GUWAHATI, Jan 30 � The Central Government is keeping a close watch on the situation arising out of the killing of ten persons on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border in Behali yesterday, and is likely to convene a meeting of both the Governments concerned shortly.
Meanwhile, the Centre has also directed the Assam Government to intensify operations against militants belonging to the Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB).
Talking to The Assam Tribune, Joint Secretary (North East) in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Sambhu Singh, said that the issue would have to be looked into in a long-term perspective and not as a mere law-and-order issue.
Singh said MHA is planning to hold a meeting of the Governments of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh soon to defuse the situation arising out of the incident that took place yesterday. He also said that the State Government would have to deal with the problem of encroachment in the reserved forests as the MHA can do very little in this regard.
The MHA official revealed that according to inputs received by the Ministry, the Maoists might try to take advantage of the situation to establish foothold in the area, while, the NDFB (S) might also try to take advantage of the situation as the outfit already has some presence in the area.
Meanwhile, commenting on the sudden spurt of activities of the NDFB(S), Singh said that the outfit was trying to prove a point with acts of violence. He pointed out that a militant outfit does not need too many people to create disturbance and only by making its presence felt, the NDFB (S) can lure more people into the fold of the outfit.
