GUWAHATI, April 30 —Faced with near starvation, dispirited bands of militants belonging to both the ULFA and the NDFB are terrorising even the lower middle class people all over the State for money. The latest incident in Karbi Anglong, where two railway employees were shot dead by NDFB militants, is an indication of that, security officials say.
According to security sources, bands of militants are moving around the State without any support from their respective organisations. Evading the security dragnet and without any cash, they are now forced to target even the people belonging to lower income groups. According to IGP(SB) Khagen Sarma the shooting incident at Doldoli was carried out by some NDFB cadres who are part of a band of about ten that is moving around the area. “It is a sign of sheer desperation,” he said, adding that there was no reason, otherwise, why an assistant station master and a gangman should be attacked. “They were in no position to pay any money,” he said.
It is the same story all over the State. Both the ULFA and the NDFB, having faced a battering at the hands of the Royal Bhutan Army in the Himalayan kingdom last December, are in a state of disarray. They are facing a severe funds shortage and have abandoned the lower level cadres to their fate. The cadres in Assam are hard pressed to meet their daily expenses. “All funding channels from their bases have been severed,” the sources said.
Sarma agreed with this view. “The cadres are facing a serious problem,” he said. Both the ULFA and the NDFB have not recovered enough to launch a fresh extortion drive in the State. “There are no reports of any organised extortion bid by the militant groups,” said Sarma. Some reports that the organisations have launched a fund collection drive have turned out to be false. Extortion notes have been served by fake militants, he said. The militant bands have thus been forced to terrorise people for money. “It is at the local level only,” said Sarma.
According to the sources, the militant cadres are making a last ditch attempt to survive on their own. “Their morale is pretty low, especially when they have come to realise that their leaders do not care for them any more,” the sources stated. This has also given rise to hopes that a large number of these militants may ultimately surrender before the security forces. Whatever the morale of its cadres however, the ULFA is making an all out bid to carry out a series of terror strikes in the State. In a slight deviation from its earlier strategy, it is now believed to have instructed its cadres to attack low profile targets, especially smaller bridges and culverts along roads and railways to disrupt communication links, the sources informed.
Meanwhile, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) authorities have tightened security at railway stations and along tracks to thwart subversive attempts by militants. It has also decided to curtail halts of trains. Between Lumding and Dimapur, the trains will halt only at Diphu, while bypassing four stations on the route.