PTI
Guwahati, January 25
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]pecial security measures have been put in place in Assam for Republic Day and in view of militant strike threats tomorrow and their boycott call of the day’s celebrations.
“For peaceful celebration of Republic Day tomorrow across the state the police, army and paramilitary forces have taken all the necessary security measures”, the state’s Director General of Police Khagen Sarma said.
“ULFA threats have been there for the last 30 years in Assam. Police is capable of tackling them”, Sarma told reporters today while inspecting security arrangements at the central R-Day celebration ground at Khanapara here.
“We need the cooperation of civil society. If people have any information about militant attack, they should immediately inform the police”, Sarma said.Security forces have been deployed in the vulnerable areas, including airports, railway stations and tracks, vital installations such as oil fields, refineries, DDK and AIR stations, etc., police said.
Patrolling along the highways and on important bridges were intensified, while vehicles were checked on the roads of Guwahati and other cities and towns to detect transportation of explosives by ultras, they said.
Surveillance by CCTV was also on in Guwahati and the district headquarters to detect subversive activities, they added.
The border areas with Bangladesh and Bhutan were specially monitored with the BSF and SSB on high alert in both the frontiers, respectively.
Operations were also launched against insurgents resulting in the arrest of four Karbi Peoples Liberation Tigers (KPLT) militants, including an ‘area commander’ with a 7.65 mm pistol, ammunition and extortion demand notes in Kaziranga area, the sources said.
There are intelligence inputs about the militant ULFA-Independent, NDFB-Songbijit and Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) striking on Repulic Day.
The ULFA-I, four North East militant outfits and the Coordination Committee (CorCom) have jointly called a boycott of the R-day celebrations and a ‘general strike’ that day in the entire region “as a symbolic rejection of India’s Constitution”.
The underground groups are ULFA-I, Meghalaya based Hynnewtrep Liberation Council (HNLC), Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) operating in Assam and Bengal, National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in Assam and Tripura based National Liberation Front of Twipra, besides Manipur’s CorCom.
According to the ultras joint statement, the ‘general strike’ “will begin from 1 AM today and end at 5 PM tomorrow covering all forms of transportation, movement of all kinds of vehicles, all forms of entertainment including cinema and theatre shows, all activities of trade and commerce”.
“However, the media, medical services and religious ceremonies shall be kept outside the purview of the general strike”, it added.
