Intelligence Bureau chief Syed Asif Ibrahim on Saturday said that while the Maoists were besieged with serious problems and the security situation has shown marked improvement in Jammu and Kashmir, the security situation in the Northeast region was fragile, with some militant outfits still outside the ambit of the peace process.
The safe sanctuaries of the militants in neighbouring countries, particularly Myanmar, was compounding the situation, he said.
Speaking at the 49 th conference of the DGPs, IGPs and head of all Central police organisations which began here, the IB chief said that due to sustained pressure by the security forces, the activities of the CPI (Maoists) is on the decline as indicated by the downtrend in their recruitment, desertion and surrender of the cadres.
Crisis of leadership
The outfit is also facing crisis of leadership and shortage of arms, he said and pointed out that only 20 central leaders are left, as against 39 in 2004. Due to shrinkage in the outfit’s area of operation, the killings have also declined. He said that it was an opportune moment to formulate fresh strategies to further weaken their capabilities.
Dwelling on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, he said that the high voter turnout was a reflection of marked improvement in the security situation and people’s rejection of secessionists and militant groups there, despite a marginal increase in incidents.
He underlined the need for taking effective counter-infiltration measures.
New threats
Saying that Iraq and Syria have emerged as new theatres of jihadis, the IB Director said that the return of battle-hardened youth from these two countries has exposed India to new threats.
Describing the prevailing security situation in northeast as fragile, Syed Ibrahim said that in Assam, the militant outfit National Democratic Front of Boroland (Songbijit) accounted for 85 per cent of the civilian casualties.
In Meghalaya’s Garo Hills, the militant outfit Garo National Liberation Army, operating in tandem with the United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) accounted for 75 per cent of civilian killings and 40 per cent of the incidents.
In Manipur, Meitei underground outfits accounted for 55 per cent of the casualties while in Nagaland, internecine clashes between various outfits for area domination and extortion were still on. In Arunachal Pradesh, turf war between NSCN factions continued in two districts of Triap and Changlang.
The IB chief said that improvement in the security situation in the northeast region has been accorded the highest priority in the conference, which will also discuss problems of Left Wing extremism and radicalisation and use it as a platform for formulating and fine-tuning strategies to deal with various challenges to national security.
