Guwahati, March 3: Tea executives working in Barak Valley tea gardens of different companies have been living under constant fear of attack from gun-toting extremists ruling the roost there.

The location of these tea estates along the inter-State boundaries has been a curse for these tea executives as extremists belonging to different outfits after striking at these gardens can easily go back to their sanctuaries on the other side of the inter-State boundary.

As a result the security forces are also facing difficulty to neutralise these militant outfits including the NSCN and DHD which have been operating with advantage of terrain on their side.

Another problem is that most of the gardens are members of Tea Association of India (TAI) which is yet to deploy Assam Tea Plantation Protection Force (ATPPF) in its member estates. Some of the garden managements have engaged private security agencies from outside the State to safeguard tea executives. But these private securitymen have been no match for the militants who continue to strike in these gardens at will. Sources informed that the State police is not happy with the role played by the managements of these vulnerable gardens in helping it to check unabated activities of extremists outfits jeopardising the security to the life of tea executives and their families.

Police is not happy because it suspects that in case of kidnapping of tea executives the managements of tea gardens resort to direct negotiations of ransom with militant outfits keeping the police and other security forces under dark. The police is informed when a tea executive is kidnapped and subsequently when he is released or killed by the militants. But what happens during the intervening period is not informed to the police by the tea garden managements making it difficult for the police to check the activities of ultras.

For example, on February 16 this year a garden assistant of Martycherra TE estate was abducted and released on February 25. Two executives of Bhuban Valley tea estate were abducted by militants on February 1 last and later released on February 14 last. The management-in-charge of Amranagar tea estate was abducted on December 1 last year and was released later. Assistant manager of Binnakandy tea estate was abducted on November 6 last year and later set free by the abductors on November 14. In all these cases of abduction police was informed about the incidents and subsequent release of the executives by militants. But, as usual police was not informed what transpired between the garden managements and the abductors during the period of captivity of the executives. It is obvious, militants abduct tea executives for ransom only. So for the release of these abducted executives the ultras must have been paid undisclosed amounts. But the managements are not willing to provide the police with details so that recurrence of such incidents could be prevented.

New Delhi, March 3: That terrorism in the North East particularly Assam has come to be closely linked with illegal infiltration problem and that insurgency can no longer be considered a cottage industry but has assumed the entity of a corporate giant with business interest spread over several countries, have emerged as the latest facets of terrorism in the country.

These were some of the observations arrived at a two-day seminar on "Terrorism: An unending malaise", organised by Indian Council of Social Science Research and attended by top security experts, sociologists, economists and bureaucrats. The fact that New Delhi has now started paying keen attention to what goes on in the North-east and to the views of the intellectuals from the region and experts in the field becomes apparent from the turnout in the seminar which was attended by several top bureaucrats of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Consider this scenario when the stock markets in South Asia recently crashed, one of the biggest losers was not any corporate or investment giants but the NSCN (IM) faction which lost over Rs 100 million.

Presenting his paper entitled "Economics of Terrorism", Ajoy Sahni of Centre for Conflict Management, said that unlike in Jammu and Kashmir, profit motive has overtaken ideology in militancy in the North-east leading to a growth of a powerful lobby.

Giving an example of kind of illegal funds generated in Assam, Sri Sahni said illegal trade of PDS quota in the State generate Rs 60 lakh per month. Virtually, the entire PDS quota of the State is diverted to the open market by the ULFA and SULFA. Similarly 70 per cent of funds for the rural development goes into the coffers of the ULFA.

The collusive arrangement arrived at which in other words means the nexus between the underground outfits -- bureaucrats-- police do not want the current arrangements to be disturbed. The speaker also opined that under the circumstances, the development approach taken by the Government cannot work as a preventive measure.

Suggesting that the Government should adopt new strategy to tackle the new scenario, he said that the Government should explore the possibility of disturbing this dynamics by hitting the profitability of the outfits. But he cautioned, any intervention will have to be well planned. Sri Sahni conceded that border trade route between the North-east and its neighbouring countries should be opened up.

The other facet of terrorism in the region that came to focus was the issue of illegal infiltration.

Presenting his paper on "Infiltration and insecurity in Eastern and North-eastern India," eminent Professor Jayanta Kumar Roy said that the impact of migration in other parts of the world is not exactly comparable to that of infiltration from Bangladesh to North East and Eastern India.

Criticising the vote bank politics indulged in by the political parties, Sri Roy said in 1993, the senior Congress leaders of the NE states reported to their party high command that intelligence agencies of Bangladesh and Pakistan were in collision to destabilise the region. They pointed to the use of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International by Pakistan's Inter Services. Intelligence (ISI) to fuel subversion in India. Moreover hundreds of officers of the Bangladesh Army were being trained in Pakistan for cross border operations, the Congressmen reported.

As against this, the preference for politics of vote banks was carried to an extreme by former Assam Chief Minister late Hiteshwar Saikia. Fifteen Pakistan backed Muslim fundamentalist organisations were active in Assam, specially among infiltrators since 1987. Late Saikia pledged to drive out infiltrators from Bangladesh when he was in the Opposition, but after he become the Chief Minister, he forgot this pledge and his political postures amounted to a denial of the menace of infiltration, Sri Roy said.

Tura, March 4: Top technical officials posted in the three districts of Garo Hills have been bearing the brunt of militancy for the last few years, and while many fear to move out of their homes, there are others who in spite of being posted to this region, have failed to turn up for fear of abduction. Many top technicians have made an exodus from the region due to this fear. Even the largest public sector undertaking in this region, Coal India Limited, has witnessed this phenomenon. The State Irrigation department due to this problem failed to have any officer taking posting or attending office there from the rank of executive engineer and above. The largest number of incidents has been reported from the East and South Garo Hills districts, which are well-known militant bastions. Engineers totalling seven and belonging to departments such as Telecom, PWD, PHE, and Irrigation have fallen prey to the Garo Hills-based militants. One of the hardest hit was Coal India Limited, whose project engineer, KC Tiwari, was abducted from the project site at Nagalbibra in South Garo Hills. Tiwari had to allegedly pay about Rs 30 lakh, although the initial demand of the militants was Rs 1 crore. The latest to fall victim is Public Works Department (PWD) executive engineer PK Bhaiya, who was picked up from Nangapa in East Garo Hills on February 23 while returning from Shillong to Williamnagar. He was subsequently released the next day allegedly on the assurance to pay up.