GUWAHATI, DEC 4: The Unified Command, constituted to tackle militancy in trouble-torn Assam, drew up a new pro-active strategy here on Sunday to take the ULFA head-on following the recent spate of massacres directed at Hindi-speaking Bihari and Marwari settlers in the state.Lt Gen Mahesh Vij, GOC of the Army's Four Corps, who's also the operational head of the Unified Command, told a press briefing shortly after a crucial meeting of the Command's Strategy Group that a decision to this effect had been taken to deal with the situation.The recent spurt of violence is a sign of the ULFA's desperation, he claimed. ``We have decided to take a people-friendly approach to rebuild confidence, an approach that had earlier paid rich dividends,'' he said, claiming that the number of militants who surrendered had gone up in recent months as had ULFA casualties.He, however, denied media reports that there were differences of opinion between the state government and the Army over dealing with the situation. He also said the Command would increase visibility in violence-affected and sensitive districts in the next few weeks.Asked why militancy seemed to have raised its head again, Vij claimed that targeting innocent people, especially those belonging to the lower economic strata, was one of the easiest things that ULFA could do to create terror. Assam Director-General of Police H K Deka, who was also present at the briefing, said the state has sought more Central forces in wake of the violence. He admitted that the recent phase of massacres was one of the worst in the state.Earlier in the day, G K Pillai, additional secretary in the Union Home Ministry in-charge of the North-Eastern region, held a series of talks with top Assam government officials and reviewed the situation arising out of the recent massacres that have claimed more than 60 lives. On Saturday, Assam Governor S K Sinha claimed that insurgency had been wiped from the state four years ago. What the state is witnessing now is nothing but terrorism, he claimed. Sinha alleged the ULFA had turned to this new kind of killings as it had lost its support base among the Assamese people.
