From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: The Director General of Assam Police , J N Choudhury on Thursday said though the influence of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) is on the wane, ethnic militancy and Maoists are gradually gaining ground in Assam and potent enough to emerge as a major threat to the law and order.
While addressing the media here, the DGP was quick to point out that Assam police, however, had not eased its operations against the ULFA (anti-talks) militants as there was no shortage of arms in the ULFA’s arsenal as was evident from the increasing recovery of arms and ammunition from arrested cadres during search operations.
He said, “Maoists are in the state now and ethnic militancy is also on the rise. The Maoists have 114 cadres in the State as per information collected by a special task force of the Assam Police constituted to study the menace.”
He said Assam police was yet get hold of concrete evidence of any link between the Maoists and the ULFA could be established in the state though the ‘catchment areas’ for both the groups were the same.
The Maoists presence is of concern in eastern Assam districts of Tinsukia Dibrugarh and Dhemaji.
Meanwhile, in order to face the challenges of the changing times, Assam Police is preparing a roadmap for the next 10 years in seven specific fields or sectors of policing.
“We have taken the first steps, but a long journey lies ahead of us. Policing changes with changing times and we must keep abreast of the developments,” the DGP said adding Assam Police was in the process of preparing a roadmap for the future.
“We want to prepare a roadmap for Assam Police in 10 years. And we have identified seven fields or aspects for it. The plans are being drawn for crime-control or law and order, training, metropolitan policing, traffic management, delivery of public services and application of technology.
The DGP said the objective was to make the force more people-friendly and also address the problems or shortcomings it was facing.