A file of BSF personnel in fatigues, guns slung across their shoulders, crossed the road as the media bus from the main stadium at Saruosojai to the Sonapur Sports Complex at Tapesia some 15km from Guwahati stopped to allow them access.

On the way to the venue, as the bus travelled hilly terrain, CRPF personnel manned the route, every 200m or so.

A few yards from the entrance one comes across a sand bunker with paramilitary presence. Metal detectors abound and everything is checked.

You would be tempted to call this a very sensitive area, as some did. No way. This is perhaps one of the safest places in the entire state. There has been no law and order problem in this part of the state even when some other regions were subject to terrorist strikes.

But why so much security? The road that led to the venue is also the line that divides Assam and Meghalaya, and long time ago, militants used their hit and run tactics and fled into the jungles of Meghalaya on the other side. As Assam was under the Unified Command structure where the Army, BSF, CRPF and the State forces work under one command, which is the State’s Chief Minister, militants can’t flee further within the state, but found it easy to slip into the jungles nearby which belongs to a different state.

It is also said that some militants used the hills adjacent to the sports complex as their base and hideout. “This is just ensure that nothing goes wrong,” says a police official.

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