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Army launches operations against ULFA

The Indian Army has launched fresh operations in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh to neutralise the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom killer squads sent to target non-Assamese communities, official sources said in Guwahati.

Sources said in the first phase the army will carry out commando strikes in the deep jungles of Tirap and Changlang districts in Arunachal Pradesh to destroy ULFA camps. A special task force created by the Centre will go after the ULFA's special killer squads. A Special Intelligence Group created for the purpose by the Union home ministry, sources revealed, would assist the Special Task Force.

With inputs from the state intelligence agencies, a list of 1,800 pockets inhabited by non-Hindi speaking communities have been identified and security around these areas will be beefed up in the coming days. To ensure a security cover in these pockets, the Centre Sunday promised to make available 30 companies of paramilitary forces. This is against the state government's demand for 80 companies. The state currently has 120 companies of central paramilitary forces, Union Home Secretary Kamal Pande told newsmen in New Delhi.

Besides making additional forces available, a strategy was also worked out under which all night movement along the Indo-Bhutan border and inter-state border with Arunachal Pradesh has been banned. The 10 km area along the international border in Assam sector has already been placed under night curfew. Sources said efforts would now be made to further intensify patrolling along the Indo-Bhutan border. The Union home ministry has also mooted the idea of completely sealing the Indo-Bhutan border to check the free movement of militants.

At a meeting on Saturday, the Assam government pleaded with the central government to contact the King of Bhutan immediately to stop free movement of militants. Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said: "We have told the central government that if Bhutan government contains the activities of militants, 90 per cent of our problem with ULFA would be taken care of."

The meeting was highly successful for Mahanta, as he not only managed to deflect opposition attacks on his government but also was able to a score a point by pointing out that ULFA would not have successful had the Centre paid attention to his plea and taken up the issue with governments of Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the Congress party's demand for President's Rule in Assam did not even figure in the high-level meeting attended two central ministers, Home Minister L K Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes besides the Army chief, the Director General of Military Operations and a host of central government officials.

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