Assam seeks additional forces to tame NDFB

The Assam government has requested the Centre for additional central forces to beef up security in the state, in the wake of the anti-talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland resorting to mindless killing of innocent civilians. The NDFB has targetted Hindi-speaking people to retaliate against the killing of its cadres by security forces.

A special meeting of the counter-insurgency Unified Command in Assam decided to carry our special operation to tame those NDFB leaders who were behind the latest killings, which have evoked strong protests from all sections of people in the state.

The police and army on Wednesday launched an operation against the outfit along the boundary with Arunachal Pradesh in Bishwanath Chariali sub-division of Sonitpur district, even though NDFB issued a fresh statement threatening to continue the massacre.

A statewide bandh called by several non-political and political organisations against NDFB violence evoked a mixed response in the state on Wednesday.

The bandh stalled normal life in violence-affected districts of Sonitpur, Udalguri, Bagsa, Kokrajhar and the eastern Assam districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, parts of Sivasagar and Jorhat. However, the bandh had no impact in Guwahati.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday called for a combing operation along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary to purge the NDFB's bases. All Members of Parliament of the opposition Asom Gana Parishad on Wednesday met the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi to draw his attention to worsening law and order situation in Assam.

The AGP claims that Chidambaram has pledged to come to the state to take stock of the situation.