Our Security Concerns

Despite the fact that there have not been any activities of foreign-based terrorist outfits in Assam, there is no denying that the possibilities of such activities striking roots in the State are very strong both because of the problems the State faces and because of the attempts being constantly made to involve the State in such activities. Not surprisingly, Central agencies, the police and security forces are keeping a close watch on developments in the State because the possibility of such outfits trying to establish bases in Assam cannot be ruled out. According to reports, an important member of the Indian sub-continent unit of the Al Qaeda tried to visit the State in order to examine the ground situation. Despite the fact that foreign terrorist groups have so far failed to establish bases for terrorist outfits in the State, there is no guarantee that they would not keep making such attempts in the days to come. Recently, an important member of the Indian sub-continent unit of the Al Qaeda was arrested in Delhi, and there is ample evidence to indicate that he was planning to visit Assam in order to assess the ground situation for establishment of bases in the State. As of now, the Al Qaeda does not have any base in the Northeast, but the arrest of the terrorist in Delhi, yielded clear indications that the outfit was eyeing Assam to establish a foothold in the region by taking full advantage of the porous intertiol border that India has with Bangladesh. It is well known that such Islamic terrorist outfits are adept at taking advantage of any major law-and-order situation or other similar situations to capitalize on them. Serious attempts were made by terrorist outfits to establish roots in Assam after the ethnic riots of 2012 in Kokrajhar. In fact, elements of Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) maged to establish bases and recruit youths from the State after the riots.

Perhaps the most outstanding instance of attempts at creating ethnic riots in the State is what happened in Kokrajhar in 2012. The Kokrajhar riots were an attempt by terrorist outfits to establish roots in Assam. In fact, even elements of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh (JMB) maged to establish bases in the State and to recruit youths from Assam after the riots. And now there are organizations that are trying to create fear in the minds certain sections of the people on the issue of the updating of the tiol Register of Citizens (NRC). This is a relatively simple task considering the huge number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh and elsewhere who are trying to pass themselves off as Indian citizens. In fact, a correct updated NRC is seen as a major security risk for all aliens who are trying to remain in Assam and other parts of India on the pretence of being Indian tiols. And once a correct updated NRC becomes available, the related task of deleting the mes of all illegal migrants who have maged to get their mes on the voters lists becomes a relatively easier task. And once this happens the political power inherent in using the votes of illegal migrants to win elections becomes a far more difficult task than it has been during the past four decades or so. And this is why our major security concern as Indians living in Assam has to be a correct updated NRC cleaned of the mes of foreign tiols. There is no denying that there are security hazards in aspiring for such a goal, but this must be seen as the most important security imperative for all Indians living in Assam. Nowhere else in the country is the security of Indian tiols so closely linked to the NRC as it is in Assam.