This is what emerges from what the Governor of the state J.B. Patnaik has said yesterday in Delhi while addressing a two-day Conference of Governors convened by President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.

He said that anti-talk faction led by ULFA chief Paresh Barua, which is fast emerging as a formidable force to reckon with in Assam is planning to hold a crucial meeting to firm up its future strategy.

The ULFA (anti-talk faction) headed by Paresh Baruah, self-styled Commander-in-Chief has continued to carry forward its struggle for sovereignty. The ULFA anti-talk group is today considered to be a militant force to be reckoned with.

The Governor said that ULFA anti-talk group is determined to regroup, reorganize and reinvigorate the outfit for reviving its lost ground with a view to boosting the morale of its cadres.

“A recent input suggests that the outfit has planned to hold a meeting at Arunachal-Myanmar border near Changlang in December-January, 2012-13 apparently to strategise its future course of action. Paresh Baruah has restructured the outfit by forming an ad-hoc committee of sixteen members with one Abhijit Barman as acting chairman,” the Governor mentioned.

During the last year, the Security Forces apprehended as many as three hundred fifty seven ULFA cadres and killed sixteen of them in encounters and simultaneously a good number of arms and ammunitions including explosives have been recovered. Paresh Baruah is still operating from Myanmar – China border in Yunan province and has eluded all efforts of the Indian Intelligence Agencies and Security Forces to nab him.

Claiming that Assam today is a comparatively peaceful state and fast returning to normalcy after reeling under militant activities for about three decades, the Governor attributed it to signing of peace accords, ceasefire pacts and surrender of militants. Let me begin with the violence profile of militancy in Assam. Currently, majority of the militant groups of Assam including the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) pro-talk faction headed by Arabinda Rajkhowa have resolved to come overground to solve their problems through talks.

Recalling that in the last Conference of Governors, he had red flagged the problem of Maoists activities in the State, Patnaik said left-wing extremists were active particularly in the remote areas of Dhemaji and Tinsukia districts bordering Lower Dibang Valley and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh. The Left Wing extremism has now made inroads into the State of Assam in a systematic manner under the cover of social frontal organization championing the cause of the poor and downtrodden. Their organizational ground work includes a detailed plan to impart training on arms handling, manufacturing of country-made weapons and arrangement of indoctrination classes for the newly recruited cadres.

CPI (Maoist) in Assam is growing under the shadow of the umbrella organizations such as Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), Assam Students and Youth Organisation (ASYO), Assam Chah Janagosthi Suraksha Samity (CJSS) and Big Dam Resistance Forum (BDRF). Assam has already been included in Eastern Regional Bureau of the party. Their cadres are being trained in Jharkhand and Manipur since 2006. The CPI (Maoist) has formed three regional leading committees, one each in Upper Assam, Middle Assam and Lower Assam. Amongst these committees, the Upper Assam Committee has been very active in the districts of Dhemaji and Tinsukia. The Maoists are also trying to establish contact with KRA of Manipur for facilitating arms transshipment, the Governor reported.

Recently, in sequel to serving of extortion letter in the month of May 2012, four Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter that took place between Army and the Maoist extremists under Sadiya Police Station in Tinsukia District. It is noticeable that two AK-47 rifles and one AK-56 rifle were recovered from the Maoists. Till date 21 cadres and helpers of CPI (Maoist) including the Zonal Chief of Assam have been arrested by the Police.

In a recent development, the NDFB (Ranjan Daimary group) has again split into another new faction led by one I.K. Songbijit, who declared himself as the Chief of NDFB and the cadres loyal to him have been indulging in subversive activities. It is estimated that the current strength of NDFB (Songbijit) is around 120 and they have launched a recruitment drive to allure new faces to the outfit.

“Efforts are being made to bring Ranjan Daimary and his group to the mainstream and that would be a big boost to peace in the area and discouragement to violence indulged in by the split group,” Patnaik said.

Significantly, the Governor also mentioned about the problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh. The illegal immigration from Bangladesh to Assam has always been a contentious issue. The Indo-Bangladesh border area is mostly riverine. Out of 263 Km., the border fencing has been erected in the length of 223 Km. Out of the rest which is mostly covered by river stretches can be fenced by electronic patrolling bridges about which proposals are still lying with the Government of India for clearance. This should be addressed urgently which may solve the long standing problem of cross border migration, the Governor pleaded.