Containing law and order problems arising out of agitation programmes are a strain on the police force. These are extraordinary circumstances which divert the minds of the police from other crimes that beset the common person. With police personnel busy addressing the fall-out of night road blockades along the highways connecting two river valleys of Assam – the Brahmaputra and the Barak Valley, criminals have turned active. Many people take advantage of these uncertain situations to vent their anger and vengeance on someone against whom they hold grudges. Police admit that the present ILP imbroglio is a drain on their human resource as they have to keep vigil across the state to prevent cases of arson and destruction of public and private property.
Garo Hills is in a state of utter lawlessness. Miscreants in the guise of Garo statehood demand activists last week marched right into the sanctum sanctorum of the administration- the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Tura. That the agitators not only barged into the district magisterial office but also manhandled women employees is indicative of the complete breakdown of the social and moral fabric of Garo Hills. Women used to be respected in these Hills, but no longer. Tribal values have gone into rapid attrition even as ethno-centric demands are on the rise.
The ongoing agitation is a kind of low-intensity conflict as police have to deal with a different kind of situation. It is not a direct confrontation with protesters where crowd converge on the streets. In the present scenario the agitation is largely run by remote control as the leaders of the organisations demanding the Inner Line Permit have all gone underground to evade arrest. Normally these pressure groups do not groom second or third rung leaders, hence the agitation is largely mis-directed. No pressure group has a list of members. They come and go and are often summoned for such situations to create a fear psychosis. At the moment the Government too is seen as soft-pedaling and non-assertive. It is the common people who feel let down.