Terrorism - Articles

Black Widow Strikes in Assam

Recent killings in the North Cachar Hills district of Assam by the Jewel Gorlosa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah, popularly known as the Black Widow, have put the security forces and the government establishment in a tizzy. Complete lawlessness has prevailed in the district as at least 25 labourers and construction workers were gunned down by insurgents of the DHD (J) since May 10 this year. The workers were engaged in two national infrastructure projects in the region involving the National Highways Authority of India and the Indian Railways. They are vital projects of the East- West Corridor infrastructure upgradation and broad gauge railway track conversion between Lumding and Silchar. These two projects are critical to the development of transport infrastructure in the Northeast region as it provides the link to the Barak valley in Southern Assam and further on to the states of Mizoram, Tripura and Southern Manipur and are part of government efforts to integrate the Northeastern states .

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has lamented the state of violence in the hill district and highlighted its detrimental effect on the entire Northeastern region. He has appealed to the Assam government to provide adequate security to the contractors and labourers involved in the projects which has been stalled ever since violence erupted. The opposition political parties have accused the state government of abject neglect of the hill district's security infrastructure, thereby allowing these insurgents a free run. The Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC), the political party that came to power in the autonomous district of North Cachar Hills in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after defeating the ruling Congress in the recent January 2008 elections, has accused the state government of playing political games over security and law and order assistance to the area. It is important to note that under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, the responsibility of law and order in the autonomous district councils falls under the purview of the respective state governments.

The Tarun Gogoi government has announced that a crack team would be constituted of ex-servicemen and former insurgents of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) who have surrendered.to tackle the DHD (J) and provide security cover to the twin projects. The efficacy of this measure would need to be assessed in terms of the inter-group rivalry among the insurgent groups as the use of surrendered militants in security could lead to increased violence and reprisal attacks between the various insurgent groups' cadres, both active and surrendered.

This is in view of the active support of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN I-M) to the Dimasa group DHD (J) in operational and logistical terms. In fact the violence in the hills region of Assam is not new. There has been a continous cycle of violence in both North Cachar Hills and Karbi Anglong with the Karbi groups being supported by the ULFA and the Dimasa groups being supported by the NSCN I-M. This is in consonance with the overall NSCN I-M policy of pitting the Dimasa tribe against the Karbi tribe, for ultimate encroachment and control of territory in the hill districts, which it considers as part of its Greater Nagalim project. The ULFA has made its presence felt in the region by supporting the Karbi groups, and has been drawn into battle in the intermittent border clashes and incursions initiated by the NSCN I-M.

The killings of the Hindi speaking migrants by the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF) actively supported by the ULFA in August last year was one incident where the security bottlenecks were highlighted in the Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills region. Nothing much has been done even after 10 months of this incident in terms of enhancing local policing and security infrastructure in the region, which still continues to be a haven for the insurgent groups to network among themselves in terms of arms acquisitions and other logistical needs for their operations. The suggested increase in police stations in the areas and improved training and logistical assistance to local police and security forces for operations against the insurgents, has been slow in implementation and even now many areas are prone to insurgent violence, especially the Hindi-speaking migrants' clusters in the region. The state government needs to urgently bring in much needed reforms in the local policing infrastructure and work towards providing effective security to the migrants, construction workers and contractors in the hill districts. Ad hoc arrangements are not the answer and it may lead to more violence in the region, leading to disruption of critical development projects in the Northeast.