GUWAHATI: An operation group of all security agencies reviewed the security situation in the Northeast, a week before the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The meeting in Guwahati was chaired by General Manoj Pande, the General Officer Commanding of Gajraj Corps.
“A review of the prevailing security situation in the entire Northeast in general and Assam, in particular, was carried out during the operational group meeting. The conduct of the event assumes importance since it was organised in the run-up to the parliamentary elections, scheduled in the second and third week of April in Assam,” said Defence Public Relations Officer Lt Colonel P Khongsai.
“The meeting also brought to light the requirement to take proactive measures to avoid any adverse law and order situation in the wake of recent developments over the Citizenship Amendment Bill, ST Bill and other contentious issues. All issues covering intelligence, law and order and the CI/CT operations were deliberated upon and plans formulated to ensure an incident-free conduct of parliamentary elections,” he added.
A number of insurgent groups such as the United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent), the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Secular), and the People’s Democratic Council of Karbi-Longri are active in Assam. While the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) is active in the bordering areas of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, it also partially operates in upper Assam.
Assam Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia, Commissioner and Secretary (Home and Political) Ashutosh Agnihotri, Inspector General of Police (SB) Hiren Nath, Additional Director SIB (MHA) Tapan Kumar Deka attended the meeting, which also saw participation from security agencies like the Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force and the Sashastra Seema Bal.
The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19, with the results to be declared on May 23. Assam will vote in three phases. In the first phase on April 11, polling will be held in the five constituencies of Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Tezpur and Kaliabar. In phase two on April 18, voting will be held in the five seats of Autonomous District, Karimganj, Silchar, Nawgong and Mangaldoi. In the third phase on April 23, Dhubri, Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Guwahati will vote.
Due to ongoing insurgency in Assam, the Unified Headquarters Mechanism was established in the early 1990s in which the strategy group functions under the chief secretary and the operational group is headed by the Tezpur-based GOC 4 Corps. While the former deliberates upon strategic issues, the latter is responsible for formulating and streamlining the conduct of counter insurgency-counter terrorism (CI/CT) mechanism at the operational and tactical level.
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