Rebel attacks rock India's Assam - pipelines blown up and military base attacked

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Assamese fighters accuse Indian state of plundering their natural resources and carrying out massive human rights abuses.

**Rebel attacks rock India’s Assam **

Two policemen have been killed in attacks by separatist rebels in the north-east Indian state of Assam, days ahead of India’s Republic Day parade. The rebels blew up oil pipelines, disrupting supplies, and also targeted a military base. More than 30 people have been injured in nine bomb explosions and several grenade attacks by the separatist violence which began on Sunday. The United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) says it carried out the attacks. “Though we tried to initiate a dialogue with the Indian government, they were not sincere,” Ulfa military chief Paresh Barua told the BBC. “They have failed to restrain the army which continues to kill our boys. So we are retaliating.” The policemen were killed in eastern Assam, when their patrol was ambushed by the rebels. Eleven others were injured in that attack.

Seventeen people, including six policemen, were injured in grenade attacks in the state capital, Guwahati. The attack on the oil pipeline took place in northern Assam, disrupting crude oil supplies to two refineries. “It will take some time to repair the damage,” an official of the Indian Oil Corporation said. Peace moves ‘over’ An Ulfa spokesperson also confirmed the group had told India’s state-run oil company ONGC to pay five billion rupees ($113m) if it wanted to operate in Assam. Ulfa and three other rebel groups in north-east India have called for a general strike on 26 January, India’s Republic Day. The BBC’s Subir Bhaumik in Calcutta says the attacks indicate that peace moves between Delhi and Ulfa look as good as over. While separatist groups in north-east India oppose Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations as a matter of routine, Ulfa was not expected to take such action this year, our correspondent says. Three months ago, it set up a committee of prominent citizens in Assam to carry forward the peace process with the Indian government. The Indian prime minister, along with senior cabinet colleagues, met the People’s Consultative Group in Delhi to express his commitment to peace in Assam. But there has been no further meeting since then.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4637574.stm

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Re: Rebel attacks rock India’s Assam - pipelines blown up and military base attacked

25 blasts in just 3 days in Assam.

http://www.asianage.com/main.asp?layout=2&cat1=5&cat2=38&newsid=204856&RF=DefaultMain

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Re: Rebel attacks rock India's Assam - pipelines blown up and military base attacked

prolly from the bugti clan imported via bd after meritorious service in balucch

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Re: Rebel attacks rock India's Assam - pipelines blown up and military base attacked

I guess they themselves don't like to be ruled by a bunch of slaves.

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Re: Rebel attacks rock India's Assam - pipelines blown up and military base attacked

Bharatis are worried about their oil. They should invent some new heat combustion engines that use cow milk for their energy source. There are plenty of cows roaming the streets of Delhi. Guarding pipeline installations in Assam can be expensive. Let the force guard tea plantations there.

**Guwahati, Jan. 27: **Shaken by the most devastating militant attacks on oil installations in recent times, oil majors and Dispur have revived a 2003 proposal to raise an exclusive security force to guard the vast network of pipelines and installations across Assam.

Officials of oil companies will meet government representatives on February 3 to work out the modalities of raising the force, which would, in all probability, be culled out from the Assam Tea Plantation Security Force, formed exclusively for the tea sector in the nineties. The gardens, which employ the force, informed the Indian Tea Association (ITA) and Dispur that they can spare some of the men.

Sources in the chief minister’s office said the meeting, to be chaired by additional chief secretary C.K. Das, will try and take spot decisions on any understanding reached between the oil majors and the government.
“OIL has formally written to us and is willing to pay while the ONGC has been in touch with us informally. Now that the proposal has been given a new lease of life, we have formally despatched a letter to both about the meeting in the hope of giving a shape to this now-on now-off proposal. Together, the oil majors have requested for five battalions,” the source said.

At present, the security of oil installations is in the hands of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) but it is concerned mainly with guarding the installations, leaving the pipelines vulnerable to attacks. The last time the proposal came close to taking shape was in 2003 when Dispur was ready to sign a memorandum of understanding for a special security force with ONGC.

In the run-up to Republic Day celebrations, the Ulfa struck at oil and gas pipelines at several places in Upper Assam, the most notable being an explosion on a pipeline of the Assam Gas Company Limited. The damage to the pipeline brought a Neepco power generation plant at Kathalguri to a halt for two days. The sources said the ONGC was willing to pay but wanted a clause that the force should be made operational for 10 years with scope for extension.

Sources said Dispur was keen to have a memorandum of understanding in place, as this would mean creating employment for nearly nearly 5,000 unemployed youth in the run-up to the Assembly elections later this year.
As things stand today, Dispur may hive off the Assam Tea Plantation Security Force to give immediate sanction to any understanding between the two sides as the terms of agreement between Dispur and Indian Tea Association (ITA) are due for review. Most gardens that employ the force have informed the ITA, which, in turn, has let the government know that they have excess personnel.
“Besides splitting the tea security force, we also have the option of absorbing trained homeguards in the proposed force. However, we will ensure that beefing up security for the oil sector does not leave the tea sector open to attacks,” the source said.

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Re: Rebel attacks rock India’s Assam - pipelines blown up and military base attacked

**Protests in Assam over army excesses **

Guwahati: The Assam government is facing mounting public upsurge against alleged military atrocities soon after a wave of bombings by separatists in the state ahead of Republic Day. Thousands of angry villagers on Tuesday took to the streets, blocking a national highway and railway tracks in eastern Assam, severely disrupting both road and rail traffic for close to six hours. The protesters were demanding the immediate release of two ‘innocent’ youths picked up by the army suspecting them of having links with the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa). Succumbing to public pressure, the army released the two youths late Tuesday. It denied the charges of any excesses. The protests took place at Jeraigaon, the village of Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah, about 450km east of Guwahati. Soldiers of the Gorkha Rifles late on Monday launched an operation in the area raiding houses and interrogating locals about reports of a senior rebel leader taking shelter in the village. Troops later shot dead a suspected Ulfa militant and picked up two local youths. **“The soldiers tortured my son with electric shock although he is in no way linked with the Ulfa. The army also tied me and physically assaulted me,” Rina Gohain, mother of the one of the youths taken for interrogation, told journalists. “This is nothing but an attempt to terrorise peace-loving villagers in the name of counter-insurgency operations,” said Bhabani Das, a schoolteacher. **

There were similar protests in the eastern tea-growing town of Jorhat where police last week claimed to have shot dead an Ulfa rebel in an encounter. But locals claim the slain youth was ‘innocent’ and he did not have any links with the Ulfa. Hundreds of people in Jorhat have been staging protests and demonstrations for the past few days claiming the youth was ‘framed’ by the police. There are no immediate comments from the government side. Analysts say the growing pro-Ulfa and anti-government feelings sweeping the state in recent weeks could give the rebels a chance to win back the support of the common people. “A few wrong moves by the army and other security agencies could alienate the masses. There has been a drastic change in recent years with locals opposing violent acts by militants and supporting peace campaigns by the government,” an analyst said. “But if the army continues with such unwarranted actions, then it would help the rebels to once again win public sympathy.” The public protests and the army offensives against the Ulfa come at a time when New Delhi is to hold talks with the rebel group’s representatives February 7.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=India&month=February2006&file=World_News200602025837.xml