Refraining from making any provocative remark on the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Assam Governor Lt Gen Ajai Singh (retd) said the militants need to be provided an “escape route” to solve the problem. Interacting with the media at the Raj Bhavan on the eve of Republic Day, the Governor commented, “Military thinker Mao Zedong had said, if you do not give the enemy an escape route and push them too much to the wall, then they will fight back with greater vigour.” It was during Singh’s tenure as the GOC of Four Corps in Tezpur, in November 1990, that the government had launched its first counter-insurgency offensive against the ULFA. Stressing on the need to control the rebels with a firm hand, he said, “Insurgency has to be fought with a silken glove, which has iron and steel inside.” He also appealed to the ULFA to abjure violence and come forward for talks. “They have to surrender arms and there can be nothing short of this,” he added. He also pointed out that since there was no guarantee that the ULFA would not regroup and go back to violence, the government should not accede to the demand for the release of the top five ULFA leaders before a decision on direct dialogue. “How can you say they will not resort to violence (once you release them)?” the Governor said. He, however, also said the militant organisation was not in for talks. “They (the ULFA leaders) are not interested. Otherwise they would have definitely come forward,” he said, while being hopeful that situation in the state would look up in the next few days. Speaking about the continuing violence and the police failure to contain it, the Governor said it was not an easy task to ensure an incident-free atmosphere. “How can you have an incident-free security atmosphere?” he said, adding that every “small thing” in Assam was being blown out of proportion. The Governor also pointed out that the ULFA’s popularity was on the decline. “There was a time when the ULFA had over a dozen militant groups with it from across the region to call a boycott of functions like Republic Day. Today, they are left with only three,” Singh said.
