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12 Assam rebel groups seek secession

Twelve of the 16 insurgent groups operating in Assam, are demanding to secede from the country.

Apprising the 11th Finance Commission of the law and order situation, the Assam government has stated that the entire state was affected by the violent and subversive activities of militant groups like the United Liberation Front of Asom, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland and the Bodoland Liberation Tigers. "These rebel groups are waging a war against the establishment and they are operating from hideouts located in neighbouring countries including Bangladesh and Bhutan," the report stated.

The government said in addition to the insurgency problems, the state was also facing growing ethnic strife between Bodo and Santhal communities in Kokrajhar district which took about 145 lives in the current year, and a large number of houses belonging to both communities were also damaged.

Communal harmony in the state was also threatened by a spurt in the activities of some fundamentalist organisations backed by external forces, the report maintained. The agitation for a separate Bodoland state had caused law and order problems in the state. Moreover, inter-state border disputes with neighbouring states, particularly Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh had led to sporadic incidents of violence, resulting in an escalation of tension in the border areas.

Ethnic violence and insurgency had seriously depleted the state government's resources, including the scope for additional resource mobilisation. The unfavourable security environment had not only resulted in the diversion of resources from developmental to non-developmental security-related expenditures, it was also responsible for the continuous flight of capital from the state over the past decade, which led to stagnant economy and tax revenues losing their buoyancy, the government said.

Because of the unfavourable security environment there was hardly any private investment in the state, the report regretted.

It said with the private business and economic activity depressed since the 1980s, the state government has had to shoulder the responsibility of providing employment to the people of the state virtually single-handedly. "Terrorism and insurgency have, therefore, contributed in no small measure to the state economic stagnation and high rate of unemployment", it said.

The government further said the state was located in a strategic area and had a long and open border with Bangladesh and Bhutan. Therefore security in the border area became difficult to maintain. Apart from border problems, a variety of factors, like social economic, ethnic and religious intolerance had led to growing unrest among the people for a long period.

The government expressed great concern over the emergence of a variety of insurgent outfits who had no faith in the Constitution and were trying to secede from the country by violent means. The "unrest" in the state was due to "insecurity" of economic prosperity and growing unemployment, the government said in the report.

The state being a late comer to development and ranked below the national average had been experiencing strong resentment over what was described as historical neglect of the state by the Centre. And this was partly responsible for the growing sense of alienation which feeds militancy, the report said.

There were no major industries or other economic activities in the state which could absorb a large number of job-seekers. The only major avenue for employment was the government sector where again the scope for additional recruitment had virtually dried up due to severe resource problems, it added.

UNI

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