NEW DELHI, July 14 - Though militancy is on the wane in Assam, there is need for identifying the areas where insurgency can erupt again, while, the location of the Army deployment can also be reviewed considering the fact that some areas of the State have become peaceful. This is the view of the top Army officials.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, top Army sources here pointed out that the people by and large are fed up with militancy, which is a positive development and most parts of Assam became peaceful. Considering the improvement of the overall situation, the deployment pattern of the Army can be reviewed as there is no need for Army deployment in some parts of the State, while, there is need for consolidating the position in certain areas where the militants can regroup.
Sources pointed out that there is need for identifying the areas where militancy can erupt again or new militant outfits can crop up so that adequate precautionary measures can be taken to prevent such developments. With the Government of Bangladesh launching a major crackdown against the extremist outfits, the possibility of some members of such groups crossing over to India also cannot be ruled out and the security forces will have to take adequate precautionary measures to deal with the situation, sources admitted.
Army sources admitted that despite best efforts of the forces on the ground, militant groups having bases in Myanmar are still crossing over and admitted that the militants are using mostly Tirap and Changlang districts in Arunachal Pradesh and Mon district of Nagaland as transit routes and bases. Though a few successful operations have been launched by the Army and other forces in those areas, sources admitted that there have been some difficulties in operating in those areas and the success rate of the forces was not to the desired extent.
Sources pointed out that the thick jungles in Tirap and Changlang put the militants in an advantageous position and efforts are on to improve the intelligence gathering mechanism to deal with the problem. �It is difficult to launch successful operations in those areas without pinpointed intelligence inputs and we do not want the local people to be affected by the operations against militants. That is why, efforts are on to augment the intelligence gathering mechanism so that we get more success in the counter insurgency operations in those areas,� sources added.
Sources further said that the process of identifying the tracks normally used by the ultras to move through the jungles in those areas has started and some such tracks have already been identified. �We expect that with improvement of the intelligence gathering mechanism and identification of the tracks used by the militants, the success rate of the operations will improve in the days to come and the forces will be able to prevent the militants from moving into Assam from Myanmar,� Army sources asserted.
