Assam tops in killing of civilians in ’07

Assam has earned the dubious distinction of most civilian deaths in violence in the year 2007, leaving troubled Jammu and Kashmir behind. Ministry of Home Affairs has prepared a report of the incidents of violence by the militant groups in all the States of the country and Assam was found to be the worst hit last year. According to the report of the Ministry, more than 290 civilians were killed in the acts of violence by the militant groups last year in Assam and more than 750 others received injuries, which is much more than the number of civilians killed in Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, militant groups also received major setbacks in the counter-insurgency operations in Assam last year as more than 120 militants were killed, while, 25 security force personnel including policemen were killed in the encounters.

Though acts of violence by the militant groups always receive the attention of the entire nation, the number of civilians killed in the State was lower than in Assam and according to records available, around 270 civilians lost their lives in the State last year. Chattisgarh is also turning out to be one of the worst violence-hit States in the country with the death of around 200 security force personnel, but the civilians killed in the state in acts of violence by the militant groups was much less than in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir as around a hundred civilians lost their lives last year.

As far as the number of incidents of violence goes, Manipur was the worst affected, but the number of persons killed in the State was much less than Assam. It is learnt that Manipur also has the highest number of active militant groups.

Though both factions of the NSCN are under cease-fire agreement with the Government of India, the overall situation in Nagaland deteriorated mainly because of the factional clashes between members of both factions. According to the report of the Ministry, around 150 persons were killed in Nagaland during clashes between members of the NSCN (I-M) and NSCN (K) and what is most unfortunate is that around 45 of them were civilians who got caught in cross firing.

Official sources said the death toll of civilians in Assam increased because of blasts in public places, while, the attacks against Hindi speaking people by the members of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) also resulted in high casualty rate of civilian population. More than 60 persons were killed in the upper Assam districts in the first part of the year 2007 when militants belonging to the ULFA launched an attack on Hindi speaking people, while, attacks on Hindi speaking people in the hill district of Karbi Anglong by ULFA and KLNLF also resulted in increase of the casualty figure.

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