NE states to share intelligence inputs

By Our Correspondent
Tripurainfo.com: 2 November, 2006

Agartala:  The militancy hit North Eastern states have woke up to the need for institutionalized operational coordination and better intelligence sharing among state police forces of the region to tackle the menace.

Police chiefs of all the region states, Sikkim and West Bengal and senior officials of the Army engaged in counter-insurgency in the region on Wednesday converged in Guwahati to work out a joint strategy to tackle the menace of terrorism, upsurge of imported fundamentalists, arms and drug trafficking in the region that has long borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China.

Inaugurating the conference, Chief Minister of Asom, Tarun Gogoi said import of fundamentalist elements from across the international border had added a complex dimension to the ´delicate´ problem of insurgency in the region.

He said the presence of long international border with Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Bhutan, communication problem and hostile terrain in the region had made the task of combating the menace very complicated. "Counter-insurgency is a very difficult job as security forces are dealing with their own people, not the enemy. So there need to be judicious balance of restraint and belligerence to minimize aberration on part of the force personnel in respect of protecting human rights of the common people," Gogoi.

The Chief Minister underlined the need for modernization of police forces and setting up of better intelligence sharing apparatus among the N-E police forces for fighting insurgency, drugs, arms and women trafficking.

Gogoi said insurgency could be solved only through democratic process and dialogue and cited examples of Mizoram and Bodoland areas of Asom in support of it.

He called upon the banned ULFA to follow the path shown by the Mizo National Front (MNF) and Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT).

Chief Secretary of Asom, S Kabilan who is the administrative head of the three-tier unified command, said that coordination among the N-E police forces shouldn´t remain confined only to sharing of intelligence but should be expanded to institutionalized operational coordination to put up a effective fight against terrorists groups that are very well coordinated.

Participation of Additional Director General of Police of West Bengal, S K Sarkar in the conference assumed significance given that West Bengal is looking for better coordination with the N-E states´ police forces because of pressure on the state from militants and other organized criminals taking shelter across the border in Bangladesh and Nepal.