The true character of a militant organisation becomes most obvious when it has no qualms about killing the very people whose cause it supposedly espouses.
| There's a clear statement. |
The Independence Day attack at Dhemaji, Assam, killing 20 people, including seven schoolchildren, by the Ulfa was such a desperate measure conducted by an organisation that faces an existential crisis. The Ulfa's self-professed aim is to "establish a sovereign independent Assam". While this seemed revolutionary to many at the inception of the outfit in 1979, today the people of Assam have recognised — and insisted — that its future lies firmly with the Union of India. The 'mainstreaming' of Assam has thus made secessionist aspirations an anachronism. But with such a situation, Ulfa finds itself without a raison d'etre. Late last year, the insurgent group faced near extinction when it was flushed out of Bhutan, where it had set up camps. It was in this backdrop that the government agreed to start talking with the Ulfa, providing it an opportunity to stop its terrorist activities without having 'to lose face'. Instead, the secessionist group — along with five other rebel groups — called for a boycott of Independence Day celebrations and a general strike in Guwahati. The Dhemaji massacre and attempts elsewhere in the state show once again that the Ulfa doesn't know the language of negotiations.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi must know that perhaps unlike in the past, the people are now firmly on the side of the State and against a bunch of murderers who have now extended their targets from politicians and other representatives of the State to ordinary people and children. It is one thing to leave the negotiating door open to cornered terrorists so as to end a long and tardy affair. It is quite another when there are groups killing children and ordinary citizens in the name of some moth-eaten ideology or cause.
| The government now needs the courage to whack these guys once and for all, and the smarts not to antagonize the people. |
|