ULFA on the revival path in Upper Assam

GUWAHATI: The Assam Police has claimed that a six-member ULFA (I) team was responsible for the Dhola massacre where 5 innocents were lined up and brutally shot dead. Prior to the panchayat polls, the overall security scenario in upper Assam seems to be getting out of control.

The Dhola murders on 1st November was the handiwork of a six-member ULFA (I) team, claims Assam Police. For fear of public outrage and criticism, the organisation had denied any involvement with the incident and even sent out a press release to the media. But it seems Assam Police has found substantial leads of ULFA (I) being involved in the brutal killings. This was revealed by Director General of Police (DGP), Kuladhar Saikia who stated to the local media that the 1st November mayhem was the work of the banned ULFA (I) and the Assam Police has inputs of the incident which point towards the outfit.

In the past few months, taking advantage of the vitriolic environment in the state – thanks to the NRC and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 – the ULFA (I) has continuously taken up soft targets. The situation in upper Assam is getting tense with each passing day. Apart from news of youths joining the outfit there are reports of extortion demands in various parts of the region. On Thursday, a hand grenade blast at a commercial establishment in Demow, Sivasagar took two lives. Locals believe it to be the work of ULFA (I) as reports claim that the organisation had demanded money from the businessman Kamal Agarwala who succumbed to his injuries later in the hospital. Incidentally, around three years ago, the deceased and his brother, Manglu Agarwala had been threatened by ULFA (I) and even shots were fired at their residence by unknown assailants. Later they had helped the police catch two linkmen of the outfit who had come to collect the money. Thursday’s incident may indicate towards many theories but the bitter truth is a businessman in the state of Assam has lost his life at his own establishment in a brutal manner. It is obvious that business will get affected in Demow after this sad incident.   
 
In another incident, on Tuesday this week, four persons carrying weapons entered the residence of Nomal Chandra Barua and took him away. Barua is the manager of Timonhabi Tea Estate which falls under Borhat police station in Charaideo district. It has been reported that the ultras identified themselves as members of the ULFA (I) and were taking the manager away as there was some confrontation with the owners of the tea garden. Though the workers of Timonhabi Tea Estate have been protesting against the kidnapping nothing has been found about the manager. One more kidnapping was reported from Jagun in Tinsukia district, where a manager of a stone crusher unit was taken away. 

The major question here is, whether upper Assam, which was once the hotbed of ULFA’s activities, is slowly moving back to its gory past of murders and kidnappings. The police and administration look helpless at the moment as somebody is trying to spread panic and fear there. It is akin to the proverbial lull before the storm. Also, the kidnapping of Barua indicates a new trend as the extremist organisation normally stays away from extorting or kidnapping people who are Assamese by name or identity.

According to sources, the Assam Police is planning to foil ULFA (I)'s attempts in most of the districts that seem to be affected. As of now, the upper Assam districts of Sadiya, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo and Sivasagar are the ones that have reported incidents of terror. The Assam Police and the state administration will have to act fast as the fear factor is increasing every day. The Demow blast is evidently going to terrorise a lot of businessmen in Sivasagar district and has already sent ripples in the nearby districts. Overall, the general public in upper Assam has again started to live under the shadow of the gun if we add the brutal instances of the past few weeks.

With worrying information coming that youths are joining the militant outfit from the border areas of Assam mainly from near Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, the police and the CRPF have started search operations against high value cadres of the ULFA (I) in various areas of upper Assam without much success. In between these operations the Demow grenade blast makes the security scenario look very vulnerable to the public. 
  
The Panchayat polls are just a couple of weeks away and it seems these incidents are going to have a bad impact on the turnout once there are threats flying left and right. Panchayat polls are very important as the real progress of any state is determined by how healthy the villages and interior areas are. Any dampener on the polls is negative for the overall progress of the whole state. The home department will have to burn a lot of midnight oil if they have to check the ultras and also ensure that the polls will be peaceful. The BJP-government has very little time to tighten up the law and order situation, especially in upper Assam, before people start losing their faith in the security apparatus of the Sarbananda Sonowal regime.