A counter-insurgency operation in Assam

Guwahati/Dibrugarh, March 6: A college lecturer is among 19 people being detained by police for allegedly helping Ulfa in yesterday’s attack on a Central Reserve Police Force patrol team.

Dhemaji police claimed to have picked up the lecturer, who teaches at Machkhowa College, on the basis of credible information. “We have got some leads, but disclosing anything at this point of time will be premature,” superintendent of police Mridulananda Sarmah said.

As the police went about rounding up suspects, the government mulled ways to nip another cycle of Ulfa-orchestrated violence in the bud. A source said deputy commissioners and superintendents of police were asked to pull out all stops to prevent another round of mayhem.

The attack on the CRPF team yesterday broke a period of calm in Assam since the start of the 33rd National Games. Eight security personnel and the civilian driver of the vehicle carrying them were wounded in the explosion at Jorkata Katgaon in Dhemaji district.

Several of the other districts affected by Ulfa’s acts of violence in recent times have sought additional cover from the army.

A senior bureaucrat in the chief minister’s office said the Tarun Gogoi government was still inclined to resume the peace process, albeit without letting its guard down.

He said the police and administrative heads of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts — the last two have witnessed the maximum number of Ulfa attacks over the past few months — had been asked to be extra vigilant.

The officer, however, said people should not “read too much” into the directive. “It is a very routine instruction,” he added.

A meeting of the Unified Command for counter-insurgency operations, usually held on Wednesdays, was not convened because of the Assembly session.

In Dhemaji, the police said two wanted militants, Ulum Bhuyan and Agan Dutta, masterminded the attack on the CRPF. The district police chief described it as “an act of frustration” in the face of sustained counter-insurgency operations by the army since Ulfa started targeting Hindi-speaking people. “Security forces recently launched a crackdown on the outfit’s overground network in the whole district. Over 20 conduits were arrested, which must have added to Ulfa’s frustration.”

Sarmah said some residents of Jorkata Katgaon helped Ulfa members plant the improvised explosive device that ripped apart the vehicle in which the CRPF personnel were travelling.

In 2004, Ulfa triggered a blast at the venue of the Independence Day function, killing several schoolchildren. It led to a wave of condemnation, including by people supposed to be sympathetic towards the militant group. Since then, the police and paramilitary forces have done a decent job of keeping Ulfa in check.