Security forces launch operation against Naga rebels

SARAIPUNG - Security forces in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh Sunday launched a joint counter-insurgency operation to evict militants of the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) involved in raiding border villages, leading to a volatile situation in the past week.

“We have decided for joint patrolling and sanitize the area to ensure peace and restore calm,” Akhilesh Singh, police chief of Assam’s eastern Sivasagar district, said.

Police and paramilitary troopers on either side of the border have not only started patrolling, but also began selective operations in areas where NSCN-IM rebels could have possible bases.

Heavily armed NSCN-IM militants having bases in Arunachal Pradesh have been continuously raiding Saraipung village in eastern Sivasagar district, about 400 km from Assam’s main city of Guwahati, since the past week.

The raids have been going on in the area with NSCN-IM militants crossing the unfenced border and launching attacks on Assamese villagers. Several homes were set ablaze, besides the attackers assaulting locals on the Assam side.

Trouble began Aug 16 when about 200 locals from Arunachal Pradesh descended on Saraipung and went on a rampage, dismantling homes and setting ablaze a tea garden factory, besides attacking residents.

“The NSCN-IM slapped extortion notices and demanded tax from Assam villagers, but when we refused to pay, the militants came and started attacking us,” local village elder Babu Das said.

On Friday, NSCN-IM militants ambushed the convoy of the Sivasagar district police chief Akhilesh Singh in which two of his security men were injured.

“We want to ensure that the border area is free from any militants,” a senior Arunachal Pradesh police official said.

Border disputes are nothing new in the northeast with fights for territorial supremacy often leading to violent clashes.