ULFA strikes in heart of Guwahati

Assam: The violence in Assam is continuing unabated. Even as the Centre says that it would deploy more troops to intensify operations in the state, the ULFA has changed tactics and tried to attack an Army camp late on Monday evening.

At least seven persons were injured when two bombs exploded near the cantonment in Satgaon on Monday evening.

An agency report said two bombs concealed in bicycles exploded near a traffic light at around 1845 hours IST.

An alarmed Central Government has now decided to dispatch 20 companies of paramilitary forces to Assam to take stock of the situation and normalise law and order situation.

Meanwhile, Assam's Bihari migrants - the victims of ULFA's ethnic cleansing operation have turned to their tallest leader for support, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad.

Lalu met families of the brick kiln workers who were killed in the violence, mostly in upper Assam, even as criticism mounted against the Tarun Gogoi government for going soft on ULFA.

But as the toll rose, the Railway Minister could do little to reassure his constituency.

"I will speak to the PM, to keep the situation under control. More Army personnel should be recruited in the affected areas," he said in a bid to calm the people.

However, a lot of labourers are not convinced and are fleeing the state, shifting to bigger, more secure cities. They say that they do not want to take a chance.

Monday also saw Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in the lead, observing a black day with protest marches and black badges.

However, this symbolism of solidarity was not working for even as a black day was being observed, there were reports coming in of migrant labourers buckling under the pressure of ethnic cleansing.

Encouraged by this response, ULFA changed tactics and attacked an Army camp late on the outskirts of Guwahati late on Monday evening.

Home Secretary V K Duggal had reassured the people of the state saying that they would send out more troops to counter the situation. However, nothing the Centre is saying has curtailed the violence, which is going on unabated.

And it's not just the Centre that is in a tight spot. The state government also has to answer some questions and taking it to task is the Assam Human Rights Commission, which has said that it wants a report within three weeks on the attacks.

(With inputs from Meetu Jain in New Delhi)

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