GUWAHATI, NOV 27: When the Prafulla Kumar Mahanta government was dismissed and the Army called in to fight insurgency in Assam on the midnight of November 27 ten years ago, the general perception in the state was that peace was on its way back to the trouble-torn state.But ten years later, it appears to be a replay of the same situation that prevailed here during 1990. The ULFA is once again active, this time of course with the target shifted from top business leaders and government functionaries to the common man.The ULFA has, in the past two months, shot down as many as 50 persons, most of them Hindi-speaking settlers engaged in petty business activities. In fact, the four persons gunned down at Jagara in Nalbari district on Saturday were Bihari settlers who were earning a livelihood by making cotton quilts, mattresses and pillows.But looking back at the recent past, Chief Minister Mahanta says, ``The recent spate of incidents are nothing but attempts by the ULFA to make their presence felt against a scenario in which more and more boys have begun calling quits to the gun to return to the mainstream.''In fact, under Mahanta's regime which took over in May, 1996, as many as 2,071 ULFA cadres have given up arms, with a large number of them taking to agriculture and petty business enterprises. The number goes up to 2,511 taking into account others belonging to the two Bodo rebel groups, the Karbi National Volunteers, the United Peoples Democratic Solidarity and some other smaller outfits.Statistics compiled by the state government in a new book called Quest for peace in Assam released by Mahanta here today, also revealed that another 5,620 members of different rebel groups have been captured by the security forces since his four-party alliance assumed power four and a half years ago.The book also reveals that altogether 759 militants were killed in the hands of the security forces during this period. But that is nothing compared to the number of civilians who have lost their lives during the same period.A summary of the counter-insurgency operations given in the book states that while the militants have killed 1,246 civilians since 1996, the number of security personnel who have given their lives stands at 380. These figures are upto July 31, 2000.But Assam refuses to give up despite the recurrence of violence. As Governor S.K. Sinha has said, ``Assam is now fast reaching the end of the tunnel of violence. I am confident that the state will soon come out of this tunnel into an era of peace and prosperity.''
