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Author: P R Ramesh
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: January 10, 2007
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/Playing_footsie_with_Ulfa/articleshow/1114591.cms
UPA politicians have been shedding TV-compatible tears over the serial killings of Biharis in Assam. Government bigwigs have been queuing to hop onto brand new Embraers for flying for an on-the-spot assessment of the security situation in the state. And there have been a chorus "we-will-not-allow-this-carnage-to-continue" pledges from the government's top leaders.
But the killings in Assam - 69 murders in three days - have shown that the government leadership and its internal security managers remain both clueless and senseless in tackling one of the biggest problems in recent years. After the Naxalite fiasco, this is the second time that the Manmohan Singh government has failed to live up to its constitutional duty to provide for the security of its citizens.
The men in uniform cannot be faulted for the current mess as a series of efforts were underway in recent months to undo the good work done by the forces. While cynical political calculations prompted the Congress to get the support of Ulfa in the last Lok Sabha elections, its internal security managers have allowed themselves to be led by cop-hating NGOs, who never uttered a word against the perpetrators of violence, for finding a solution to the menace.
Even ardent admirers of the Congress would admit that the two approaches converged just when the forces were on the threshold of liquidating Ulfa. They had not just managed to decrease the cadre strength and stop fresh recruitment, its leaders were forced to leave the country and seek asylum in the terror factories of Bangladesh.
But the forces did not get the go ahead for
the final strike as the government leadership here decided to wave the white
flag and allowed themselves to be led by the fantasies of the "dialogue
and reconciliation" crowd in the NGOs.
The government leaders and the IAS bosses claim that sprinkling a few hundred
more policemen in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts will shore up the situation.
But can it? The recent activities of Ulfa and the support that it is getting from Pakistan and Bangladesh show that this assessment is outlandish and fanciful. Pakistan and Bangladesh have been backing Ulfa for fomenting trouble in Assam for the past several years. The government itself had recently conceded that some of Ulfa's top operatives received training in the terror camps of Bangladesh and Pak-occupied Kashmir.
The two countries have also been facilitating illegal migration to the state. And current estimates show that Muslims constitute over 32% of the state's population. A governor's report lying with the President had stated that the attempt of the two countries is to make Assam a Muslim-dominated state.
The targeted killings of Biharis suggest that it was aimed at ensuring sufficient space for the Bangladeshi immigrants. The Ulfa has been asking "Indians" living in Assam to pay a "tax" to the outfit. But no such claim was made on the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, the country that provides shelter for the outfit's leadership. Its recent activities clearly demonstrate that Ulfa has ceased to be an Assamese movement, but a full-scale auxiliary of the jehadis wanting to dismember India.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi's own police say that at least half a dozen jehadi outfits are active in the state. Among them are the Muslim Liberation Tigers of Assam, the Independent Liberation Army of Assam, the People's United Liberation Front, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami.
The activities of these outfits are being
handled by Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) of Bangladesh. The Ulfa has now close
connections with HUM. Surely, this is not a problem that should be left for
Indira Goswami and her friends to handle.
The government, which agreed to hold talks with the deadly menace Ulfa, had
been defending it by terming it as a harmless outreach.
Really? Anyone who has a fleeting acquaintance with reports from Assam would say that talks with Ulfa were part of a pre-election deal, which Congress leaders signed with the secessionists. That it has not learnt any lesson is evident from the fact that the Congress is persisting with its attempts at "social engineering" and promises of special treatment for politically crucial constituencies.
The societal divisions have become sharper in Assam after the Congress dispensation gave in to the demands from hardline community elements. The Supreme Court had to intervene twice in the past 12 months for preventing a sellout of national security for votes when the government attempted to bring the scrapped IMDT through the backdoor.
The killings of Bihari labourers is yet another reminder that expeditious corner cutting and novel "problem solving" methods could lead to more catastrophes. The Congress which created Bhindranwala with horrific consequences ought to have known better.
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