Panel wants Unified Command to go

The Justice KN Saikia Commission that looked into 35 cases of 8220;secret killings8221; which took place between 1996 and 2001 in Assam, has recommended 8220;gradual dismantling8221; of the Unified Command formed in the state to tackle insurgency. The extra-judicial murder of over a hundred relatives of ULFA cadres took place when the Opposition AGP was in power in the state.

The Commission, which has indicted former CM Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and his AGP-led coalition government of 1996-2001, also asked the government not to go for any kind of witch-hunting in the wake of its report that was tabled in the state assembly here on Thursday.

8220;Let there be no witch-hunting of any sort,8221; the Commission repeatedly said at the end of each of the 35 cases of killings that it probed.

The Commission8217;s report, submitted in four parts, runs into 487 pages. The report, which described the Army as 8220;ubiquitous8221;, has also suggested keeping the Unified Command in abeyance initially and then its 8220;gradually dismantling.8221;

Justifying the suggestion to dismantle Unified Command 8212; which would imply withdrawing the Army from counter-insurgency operations 8212; Justice Saikia said life in the state 8220;has become normal.8221;