ASSAM Rifles Director General, Lt Gen H S Kanwar has advocated a three-pronged strategy to effectively combat militancy and check smuggling of narcotic drugs in the North-East. “A joint command like in Jammu and Kashmir will be most effective to tackle militancy in the region. Sharing of intelligence among the Central agencies and better coordination among the security forces are also very important to combat this menace”, Kanwar opines

 Obviously learning from the experience of Churachandpur, he says lack of coordination among the forces there had made it a sort of ‘liberated area’. The Jammu and Kashmir example of a unified command’ should be model for other States to crush militancy  in a very ‘short period’, the AR   DG adds.

The Assam Rifles is presently manning the Indo-Myanmar border. It finds the task a difficult one because of the long and porous nature of the border. The force will use more state-of-art equipment like battlefield radars and low light by having a range of 8-10 km to keep a vigil on the movement of the militants and their vehicles. “Sanctions have already come. We are in the process of procurement”, Kanwar states.

Raised in 1835 with 750 combatants, the oldest paramilitary force in the country has at present 40 battalions with six more to be added to its strength by 2007.

Lt Gen Kanwar said the issue of existence of militant camps in neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar could be solved through ‘diplomatic’ pressure. MEGHALAYA OFFER TO ULTRAS The Meghalaya government has proposed ceasefire  to the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (UNLC) and Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC).

‘Once the militants stop their criminal activities, we will ask the police to suspend operations against them,’ Chief Minister D. D. Lapang announced. The offer is believed to be a  step forward to find a lasting solution to the decade-old insurgency rocking Khasi and Garo Hills. It is a sequel to the government’s authorisation to two church bodies for facilitating talks with the underground.

Terming his ‘ceasefire’ proposal as ‘reciprocal’, Lapang appealed to the underground activists to  respond to the call for ending militancy in the State. ‘We have also assured free passage. The militants who come forward for talks will be given protection and the police will not touch them,’ the Chief Minister made it clear. While the Shillong Khasi Jayantia Church Leaders Forum is made the negotiator with HNLC, the Garo Baptist Church is selected for holding talks with the ANVC. True to his style, Lapang ruled out any role in the negotiations to P A Sangma and Zoramthanga. “We will not tolerate any back door negotiation by them (Sangma and Zoramthanga), he stated categorically. However, there was no positive respose from the other side to this proposal. The ultra outfits had outrightly rejected the proposal of the State Government.

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