Centre to withdraw Assam militant surrender policy after LS polls

During the trip,the trio interacted with Army’s Tezpur Commander Lt General K.T. Parnaik,Dimapur Commander Lt Gen R.K. Loomba,Assam Chief Secretary P.C. Sarma,Director General of Police G.M. Srivastava and top Intelligence Bureau and RA&W officials.

Visiting Assam a day after the Gauwhati serial blasts that left eight dead and scores injured,Assam DGP G.M. Srivastava,known for his tough reputation,told the visiting bureaucrats that the government policy of militant surrenders was not working as there was hardly any weapons being surrendered. The top police officials made it clear that surrender without weapons was mere rest and recreation for the militants as they went back to insurgency in an year or two. They pointed fingers at the Army for routinely encouraging such surrenders.

However,Corps Commander Parnaik made it clear that he had not taken any surrenders since he had taken over at Tezpur. It was only then decided that both the Army and the State police should go after the militant groups particularly ULFA after the Lok Sabha elections are over and withdraw the policy of surrenders.

The visiting delegation were informed that three groups – ULFA in Assam,NSCN (I-M) in Tirap-Changlang sector in Arunachal Pradesh and Dima Halam Daoga (Jewel faction) in North Cachar district—were active in the North East. The trio was briefed on the support given by pan-Islamic groups to ULFA in Bangladesh as well as the growing influence of the Pakistani intelligence agencies.

Although the Tarun Gogoi government came to power after a tactical understanding with the militants groups particularly ULFA,this time the Centre does not want to take chances with serial blasts and killings becoming the order of the day. State DGP Srivastava,who took over after R.N. Mathur was shown the door after the October 30 serial blasts,made it clear that his team would aggressively pursue the ULFA in the state.

Militants neutralized (arrested/killed/surrendered) in Assam:

YEAR = TOTAL

2003 = 750

2004 = 1067

2005 = 544

2006= 752

2007= 759

2008=787

*(The figures include ULFA,NSCN,NDFB,BLT and other groups too,but the majority are ULFA militants).