GUWAHATI, May 10 � Peace-keeping in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts (BTAD) has remained a distant dream, with those at the helm of affairs utterly failing to ensure security of human lives and property year after year, leaving the common man under constant fear.
Nearly 3,500 cases of rioting reported in the last five years have made BTAD by far the most disturbed area of Assam in recent times, if not the country.
Be it incidents of uncontrolled use of arms or spurt in the number of abduction and extortion cases, lawlessness of almost all forms has become a recurring affair in districts like Kokrajhar, Chirang, Udalguri and Baksa.
While nearly 900 innocent persons (murdered) were killed in the BTAD in the last five years (including those killed in the 2012 ethnic clashes), the damage caused by anti-social elements during the period to villagers� property will run into several crores of rupees, if at all they can be quantified.
Security forces, during the period, managed to recover about 730 firearms and nearly 3,500 rounds of ammunition. Police also registered 507 cases under the Arms Act during the period.
The success rate being negligible, BTAD recorded over 1,300 abduction cases in the last five years. Rise in the number of extortion cases also leaves the law-enforcing agencies red-faced time and again.
The ongoing targeted killing in BTAD is further adding fuel to the fire with already 33 lives lost.
Senior police officials camping there said that gun-running is still very much prevalent in the areas and the unabated use of legal and illegal arms has posed unprecedented challenges before the security forces.
