GOC of the Army’s Four Corps Lt Gen B S Jaswal, when asked to assess the group’s strength in wake of the arrest of one of their top leaders Prabal Neog, said there was disenchantment within the group which could lead to a split. “We have electronic intercepts that speak volumes about the internal dissension that the outfit is suffering from. The dissension is increasing following the arrest of Neog,” said Lt Gen Jaswal, who is also the chairman of the Operations Group of the Unified Command structure constituted for counter-insurgency operations in Assam.

Jaswal said the middle and lower level cadres were no longer willing to undergo hardship “especially when their top leaders are leading a luxurious life in Bangladesh and other countries”.

“Increasing psychological as well as physical pressure mounted by the security forces has also affected the militants on the ground. The ordinary cadre is today running short of shelter and support,” Jaswal said. He was speaking to the media for the first time since he took over as the Four Corps GOC at Tezpur last month.

“Conditions are rife for a vertical split in the ULFA. There is tremendous pressure from within the community and their respective families on the ULFA cadres to give up,” the GOC said.

The GOC said the common people were beginning to not just apprehend and hand over militants to the security forces, but they were also doing them to death. “There have been at least half-a-dozen such incidents of public lynching of ULFA militants in different districts of Assam in the past six months. This proves that there is no popular support base left for them,” he said.

On the security forces, the GOC said there was no lack of coordination among the Army, state police and Central police forces. “At least 109 militants have been killed and 1295 have been apprehended in the current year, while 81 have surrendered,” he said.