Army sets up unified command to tackle insurgency in Assam

A Kashmir-type unified command under the army has commenced massive counter-insurgency operations in lower Assam.

Some units of four corps, based at Tejpur, have moved to Kokajhar and other areas in lower Assam. The operation is being coordinated by Lt General R K Sawhney, general officer-commanding of the corps.

The unified command has been set up for operational purposes to facilitate coordination of all security agencies deployed in the state and synergisation of counter-insurgency operations, official sources said.

The recent spate of violence in lower Assam which witnessed attacks against vital oil installations, strategic lines of communications and train passengers the sources said had necessitated a fresh approach to bring about an early restoration of normalcy in the state.

A strategy group at the state-level headed by the chief secretary and comprising senior representatives of the army, paramilitary forces, state police and intelligence agencies has also been created to work out broad strategies and ensure policy coordination.

The sources said the setting up of the unified command and the creation of the strategy group at the state-level will ensure optimal utilisation of available resources, concentration of effort where required and provide a systematic approach to tackling the menace of escalating insurgency levels.

The sources explained this synergisation of available resources at all levels will make it possible to optimally focus on vital issues without the encumbrances of bureaucratic red-tapism and redundancy of effort.

The concept of a coordinated resolve will also be suitably adopted at the divisional and district levels to ensure implementation of the broad strategy and an integrated approach by all agencies as the grassroots level.

"The unified headquarters has been created exclusively for operational purposes and is in no way intended to replace or duplicate any functions of the state government or administrative machinery," the sources said.

A meeting of the core group was held at the home ministry and most of the reservations of the Assam government are understood to have been ironed out.

Home Minister Indrajit Gupta is on a two-day visit to the state to remove and the Assam government's remaining reservations.

Differences had apparently surfaced between the Centre and the state regarding ways and means to tackle the insurgency. Both sides have divergent views over the structure of the unified command proposed by the home ministry.

Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and other political leaders in the state have impressed upon the Centre that it must initiate a political dialogue to counter insurgency and involve the civil administration in any counter-insurgency operations.

Mahanta and other Assamese met the prime minister on January 8. They denied that the state was opposed to the Centre's suggestion for a unified command to oversee counter-insurgency and said the suggestion was being examined.

The state's political leadership is of the view that military operations alone will not suffice and there is need for a political dialogue.

The deployment of the army in insurgency-scarred areas was hinted at by Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav after he reviewed the situation in the North-East in the wake of stepped up militancy.