US to Guwahati: We can get FBI to help probe your blasts

Appreciating the US gesture, Gogoi clarified that any FBI involvement would have to be first cleared by the Centre. ‘‘I don’t mind taking such support from the US government provided the Government of India agrees to it,’’ Gogoi told reporters.

In his letter to the Assam CM, Mulford wrote: ‘‘The United States has considerable expertise in investigative techniques including, for example, such areas as forensic analysis of explosive residues. Should you find it helpful, the FBI would be pleased to provide technical support for your investigation.’’

Aware that talk of seeking US assistance could land him in a controversy, Gogoi hastened to add that ‘‘support cannot be at the cost of national security.’’

At the press conference, Gogoi admitted there was lack of preparedness among security agencies to counter the threat from militants and insurgents. ‘‘There is neither any intelligence sharing system nor a coordination mechanism among the North East states. Even in Assam, whatever we have been doing till today is ad hoc firefighting,’’ he said. He indicated that there would be a major revamp in the Assam Police by next week. Gogoi is the third state CM after Hiteswar Saikia and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta to have called for a coordinated effort in tackling insurgency across the North East. Gogoi also made it clear that the Bhutan operations of December 2003 were partly successful. ‘‘The camps were no doubt demolished. But how many militants were apprehended?’’ he asked.

Stopping short of naming the ISI as the force trying to create instability in the North East, he said: ‘‘There are forces inimical to India who want to disturb and destabilise India and the North East.’’

He said he had already asked the Centre to tighten security along the international borders with Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

He had a complaint against the Centre though: the strength of Central para-military forces in the state had been reduced from 160 companies in 2001 to 121 as of today. He said Assam would recruit another 6,000 policemen and add 16,000 to the strength of the state home guards. The village defence party strength would also be raised from 11,000 to 16,000.