Assam: State burning from extremists violence

Around 10.15 a.m. on Monday, April 6, E. S. Parthasarathy, Commissioner of Assam's Plains Division posted at Jorhat, got out of his car and walked briskly towards his office to start another week of gruelling work. Moments later, as he sat on his chair, a pressure bomb placed underneath exploded. His body was flung upwards, his lower limbs mangled.And though his aides immediately rushed him to hospital, death was instantaneous. With that killing, extremist elements in the Assam imbroglio signalled the possible start of a new violent phase in the movement, a phase anticipated by government agencies but kept at bay by the slow and tedious moves for a negotiated settlement.Parthasarthy, who was 44 when he died, had come to Assam in 1979. An efficient and hard-working officer, he had been in command when the police last year opened fire at Duliajan killing four pickets, following which Dr Robi Mitra of Oil India was lynched by rebellious mobs. Speculation was rife that Parthasarathy was a marked man, and that he would pay for the firings. That may or may not have been the reason for his murder, but the brutal killing has sent shock waves throughout official circles in the state. It has cast a pall of gloom over senior bureaucrats. Security measures have been tightened in government offices even as an all-out effort has been launched to hunt down Parthasarthy's killers. A team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has now arrived in Assam to help.Dangerous: In fact, the Jorhat incident was not an isolated one. The same morning an explosion was reported in Barpeta subdivision in Kamrup district. In another act of sabotage, a part of the Gauhati-Siliguri petroleum products pipeline of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was blown up near the tiny hamlet of Batua, about 150 km from Gauhati. Coming on the heels of the blast last month inside the state assembly complex and the spate of explosions along railway tracks in the state, the events of last fortnight have added a new and potentially dangerous dimension to the Assam struggle. Since January this year, more than 50 explosive blasts have been reported in the state, compared with 30 in the whole of last year. There is now a growing fear that extremist elements in the state together with hardliners in the All Assam Students' Union (AASU), which is spearheading the Assam movement, and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP), are slowly but surely consolidating their position. Independent observers believe that the recent stalemate over the negotiations has frustrated many youngsters and given a boost to militants.Intelligence sources in the state are now increasingly convinced that a small but effective number of extremists are trying to exert themselves through pre-meditated acts of sabotage and terrorism. It is not yet clear to the authorities whether the different sections within the underground are working together or operating independently. Parthasarthy: terrorism shows its handSome of the organisations generally dubbed extremist include the little-known Jatiya Rakshi Bahini, founded in September 1979 by former State Security Bureau (SSB) officer Biraja Chowdhury, a section of the Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad(PLP) led by Hemanta Gogoi sections of the Jatiyati Badi Yuva Chatra Parishad, a Naxalite faction, the militant elements of the AASU and the North Eastern Region Students' Union.Extremists: It is now widely acknowledged that unless the process of negotiation is seriously initiated between the students and the Centre, extremist forces will eventually gain the upper hand in the state. There is a danger that moderate leaders like Prafulla Mohanta and Bhrighu Phukan of AASU may lose much of their support if the present stalemate continues. In fact, AASU spokesmen admit that if no solution can be found to the Assam tangle "within a reasonable period, the leadership of the movement may pass into the hands of extremist groups".The violence notwithstanding, AASU and AAGSP plan to resume their agitation by the last week of May. AASU's executive plans to meet next fortnight to decide on the course of action. Surprisingly, AASU is confident that the quiet of the last four months-when the student movement drew in its fangs to enable students to complete their examinations -has not dampened popular enthusiasm. Though the test of this optimism will lie in the response that the students might get when the movement is resumed, there is little doubt that the killing of Parthasarathy has demonstrated the alternative to a considered, negotiated settlement.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 21, 2013 11:53 IST--- ENDS ---

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Assam: State burning from extremists violence

Since January this year, more than 50 explosive blasts have been reported in the state, compared with 30 in the whole of last year.

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