The Assam Police has received Intelligence inputs that the anti-talk faction of the Ulfa militants might try to carry out subversive activities across the State in the run up to the forthcoming Republic Day celebrations.
IGP (law and Order) SN Singh said this on Friday and added that the outfit might try to carry out subversive activities like blasts in at least five districts of Assam—Golapara, Golaghat, Sivsagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia. He said that the police have been taking steps to stop any such attempts by the militants.
The IGP admitted failure on the part of the police to prevent the recent violence in three districts of Assam by the anti-talk faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants that killed 80 people and left lakhs homeless. “We had prior information about the attack of the NDFB faction on December 23. We have received inputs from the Central Intelligence agency also regarding the attacks. However, we received the information only one hour ahead and it was difficult to mobilise the forces to the remote areas where the violence took place,” he said.
“However, we could prevent the NDFB faction from carrying out an attack in one locations in Kokrajhar district on the same day—December 23,” he said. Asked about the NDFB faction’s possibility of attack in the run up to the Republic Day, Singh replied in negative and said, “The NDFB is on the run now. There is no possibility of attack from them till January 26.”
Singh further informed that the NDFB faction’s Commander-in-Chief B. Bidai had ordered the recent attacks in Kokrajhar, Sonitpur and in Chirang districts and added that there was no approval for the killings from the outfit’s chairman I.K. Songbijit. “There was no approval of the outfit’s chairman for the killings in the three districts It was the C-in-C B. Bidai, who had ordered the killings,” the IGP said.
The senior police official said that the situation is turning normal in Kokrajhar, Chirang, Sonitpur and Udalguri districts and that the government has been setting up fixed and mobile police pickets in the four districts to ensure security to the people. “The efforts are on to set up police pickets in the violence affected areas. There will be 29 fixed pickets and six mobile pickets in affected areas of Kokrajhar district. In Sonitpur, there will be 26 fixed pickets followed by six mobile pickets, in Chirang there will be nine fixed pickets and three mobile pickets.
And in Udalguri, there will be 15 fixed pickets followed by three mobile pickets,” he said while giving the details. Commissioner and Secretary (Home and Political) department of the Assam Government, Pratik Hajela further informed that the people have started returning to their homes from the relief camps in the four districts. “About 28,000 people had left the relief camps in last 24 hours. Now we have 2,08,000 inmates in 118 relief camps in the four districts,” Hajela said.