Rajnath to review security of north-eastern states with DGPs

Guwahati: Union home minister Rajnath Singh will review the prevailing law and order situation in the north-eastern states when he chairs a meeting of their DGPs in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Security sources said that the meeting was also significant as Bangladesh has launched a fresh combing operation targeting Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), and the possibility of its impact spilling over to India cannot be ruled out.

Sources said the BSF and district police forces bordering Bangladesh have been alerted.

Several militant groups operating in the north-eastern states are lying low but security forces have failed to nab most of their senior leaders, sources said, adding that it has been a major area of concern for the home ministry.

Sources said that counter-insurgency operations against anti-talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in Western Assam have succeeded in neutralising a large number of lower and middle-rank cadres. The top leadership of the outfit was still at large trying to regroup, they said.

Admitting that coordination among the north-eastern states on counter-insurgency operations has also improved, sources said that the presence of Assam’s rebels in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland was still a matter of serious concern.

Asserting that the home ministry was looking into these aspects very carefully, sources said that the ongoing recruitments of youths by the rebel groups would also come up for discussion.

Sources said that the home ministry was also worried about an extortion drive intensified by outlawed Ulfa (I) and NDFB. The home ministry would also look into the Chinese connection of north-east rebel groups, they said.