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The Assam attacks

THE COORDINATED ATTACK on oil installations in far-flung places in upper and lower Assam is a reminder that the serious threat posed by the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) has far from receded. The massive attack, carried out in some places with rocket-propelled grenades, has taken place after something of a lull in such militant activity. In recent months, incidents involving the ULFA have been of a relatively minor, or at least less serious, nature. Against this background, the coordinated attack on oil installations, which resulted in a fuel tank in the Digboi refinery going up in flames — an attack that could have caused incalculable damage had it spread to neighbouring tanks — is something of a surprise. Those in the security establishment may not be totally off the mark suggesting that the attacks, promptly acknowledged by the ULFA as its own doing, were partly an attempt by the militant organisation to mark its presence, send a reminder about its existence to the Governments in the State and at the Centre. The Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, who described the attacks as a "desperate" attempt by the ULFA to make its presence felt in an environment in which public support is fast eroding, has provided a similar explanation.

At the same time, the record of the ULFA's terrorist activity reveals that the organisation has returned to step up violent activity after periods of relative calm time and again in the past. Given this, it will be important to keep an especially close watch to determine whether the attacks signify the beginning of a new phase of militancy following a degree of regrouping or consolidation within the ranks of the ULFA, which continues to receive fresh recruits from various parts of the State. The attacks on the oil installations were preceded by some events that suggested that a fresh spurt of militant activity might be on the cards. The fires at the Digboi refinery have been extinguished and supplies of petroleum products have continued uninterrupted. But the loss due to the single fuel tank catching fire is estimated to be almost Rs. 20 crores — a figure that reflects the enormous financial damage that terrorist strikes on oil installations can cause. Aware of this, oil installations have been targets of the ULFA's strikes. It was only last month that the organisation claimed responsibility for a blast at an underground pipeline in the Upper Mamoroni area of Tinsukhia.

The recent round of strikes stresses the importance in augmenting security to oil installations all over the State. In the age of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), providing foolproof security to large installations and lengthy oil pipelines is no easy matter. Even as the Union Petroleum Ministry engages in discussions with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) officials about beefing up security, one of the things the Centre may do well to consider constitutes an exclusive security force to protect vital oil installations all over Assam. Such a force already exists for the tea industry in Assam — a direct result of ULFA's strategy in the mid-1990s to hold large and medium sized tea companies to ransom. The Assam Tea Plantation Security Force (ATPSF) was raised in 1995 and its services have been commissioned by almost a hundred tea gardens in the State. Although this experiment has had its share of problems in the tea industry (for instance, prohibitive costs on salary, food, clothing, weaponry and so on have lead many gardens to opt for cheaper and less effective private security agencies), the idea of having an exclusive security force for oil installations is not a bad one. Security requirements vary from industry to industry and a specialised group equipped to handle the particular challenges involved in protecting oil installations would be far more effective in carrying out this job. The recent ULFA strikes may have rattled the Centre enough into setting up such a force.

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