Since 1970’s, India has been a victim of terrorism in one form or the other. The government has tried, but all the policies and plans seemed to fail to fully control terror activities going around in the country. The battle against terrorism seems to be long and the winner seems to be vague.

The situation in Assam substantially reflects the consequences of the absence of a coherent larger perspective. Despite all the efforts United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), has succeeded in striking again and again over the past few months, killing dozens of innocent civilians. It is a pit that the movement that begun as a protest against illegal Muslim migrants from Bangladesh now is targeting the Hindu settlers in the State. In past six months, 116 “Hindi speaking” persons have been allegedly gunned down by the ULFA and the NDFB.

The situation in Assam is the consequence of fear that has been established in the minds of the people through decades. One of the elements contributing is the discourse on the threat to the identity of the Assamese. Assam has seen wave upon wave of migration through the centuries, and it would lie as difficult to identify the original inhabitants of the region as it is of most other parts in this country. The main task is increasingly shifting towards a massive effort to bring these diverse people together, and little appears to have been done towards this end. Reconstruction is required by the local administration to create an atmosphere of peace in the state.

This also becomes the responsibility of the police and civil administration to have constant dialogue with various groups to maintain the peace. It is now high time to go beyond merely fighting the terrorists, to mending the damage of the past. It should also be seen that by having even a few committed cadres in hand could maintain a terrorist movement alive because terrorism pays handsomely.

Inability of legal system is also a disadvantage for the forces and personnel engaged in fighting terrorism, and, on the other, of the inability of the legal system to effectively deliver justice in cases involving terrorist crimes. Surrendered militants policies should also be revised as the present schemes create utterly unrealistic and unjustifiable expectations in the minds of those who surrender and display a far greater concern among our political establishment for the welfare of the terrorists, than they do for the security and welfare of the common people. Unfortunately, the uncertain wisdom of policy makers is communicating precisely the opposite lesson.

It is high time that we create a part of the counter-terrorism establishment in this country extricated itself from the imperatives of the moment and the crises of each new day and to identify the fundamentals that mast guide future policies and initiatives.