Go |
 |
The Law Enforcer Returns!
George Iype in New Delhi
Supercop K P S Gill, who has been appointed as security advisor to the Assam government, says his top priority will be to crush insurgency in the trouble-torn state and restore normalcy as early as possible.
"I do sincerely hope that I will be able to restore law and order in Assam as it was done in Punjab," the
former Punjab director general of police told Rediff On The NeT in New Delhi.
Gill, who became a celebrity law enforcer after he turned the tide in the insurgency-ridden Punjab, said he will move to Assam as soon as he gets his appointment letter from the Asom Gana Parishad government.
"It is going to be a very difficult task in Assam, but I am sure I will achieve success," he said.
Gill says his strategy to halt "the reign of terror unleashed by the militant groups in Assam is going to be quite different from that of Punjab." "You cannot compare the Punjab situation with the current situation in Assam," he added.
Pointing out that we need "a completely different approach to tackle the insurgency in the entire North-Eastern
region," Gill said his first task will be to study the situation in Assam and thereafter chalk out an effective action plan.
Asked if he has set any time frame to suppress the militant United Liberation Front of Asom and the Bodo organisations operating in Assam, Gill disclosed that he had not drawn up a timeframe to crush the insurgency.
"I cannot and do not want to promise that militancy in Assam will banished within one month, one year or two
years or so. Crushing insurgency and bringing back peace and normalcy is a long drawn-out process," he said.
Gill said he decided to take up the Assam assignment after the state and central
governments requested him to do so.
"I do not expect a miracle in Assam in a few days. It takes time to supress insurgency in a state like Assam
where many extremist groups are operating. But it is not all that difficult if a concerted onslaught is mounted
from day one," he explained.
Gill's post-retirement assignment to Assam is not his first job in the state or in the North-East. In the early 1980s, he was inspector general (law and order) in Assam. He also served as the police chief in Meghalaya before leaving the region on a Union government deputation to fight terrorism in Punjab.
During the height of the anti-foreigner stir in Assam in the 1980s, Gill personally escorted Begum Abida Ahmed, wife of the late President, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, from Guwahati to Barpeta.
A home ministry official said Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta decided to appoint Gill after consulting Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral after the recent spurt in violence virtually paralysed the state. The central government is deeply dissatisfied with the AGP government's record in fighting militancy in the state. Therefore, the recommendation to appoint Gill came from the central government itself.
On Wednesday, the government also appointed Lt General S K Sinha (retired), former vice-chief of the army, as Assam governor.
Home ministry officials in New Delhi fear that Gill may not have it easy in Guwahati as the AGP government is alleged to be "soft" towards the ULFA and the Bodo groups in the state.
EARLIER REPORTS:
General Sinha appointed Assam governor
Five killed in militant violence
Bodo militants kill 14
Blast derails Rajdhani Express
Warrant issued against ULFA chief over death of activist Ghose
Counter-insurgency operations resumed in Jorhat, Guwahati
Bodo group demands separate state
Bodo effort to cut off North-East from rest of India
Brigadier killed, bridge destroyed, as militants intensify activities
'If they don't meet and talk, in about 15 years the North-East will be in darkness'
|
