Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced on Thursday that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will probe the brutal militant attacks on adivasis and its violent aftermath in Assam, which left 78 “poor and innocent” people dead.
He told a press conference after touring the affected Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts, “I have spoken to the Assam CM and we have decided to investigate the entire incident by the NIA. We want to see the links of such groups. We want to know with whom they have connections.”
He said that the government took the attacks “very seriously”. “We cannot overlook it as a simple militant act. It is an act of terror. Both State and Central governments will deal with it the way terrorism is dealt with,” he said.
The Home Minister assured the State government of all assistance and said that if necessary, army assistance would be provided to crack down on the outfits. He pointed out that the Centre has already provided 50 companies of paramilitary forces to Assam.
Rules out talks Rajnath ruled out talks with the group, saying “there will be no dialogues with such organisations. Only action will follow. There will be time-bound action, we don’t want to drag it. I have asked the State to directly start operations”.
The Home Minister also said the Centre has received assurance of cooperation from “one of the premiers” of Bhutan and Myanmar for flushing out terrorists from their territories.
Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj informed him of this development this morning, he said, appealing to the people of Assam not to term the unfortunate incident as ethnic clash.
“Terrorists do not have religion, caste and region. They are only terrorists,” he observed.
He also informed reporters that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken the incident very seriously and announced ₹2 lakh each for the family members of the killed.
“The PM wants to work for the country and for this region. Some forces like this are interfering with it. But we will win over these forces... Such incidents are challenges for the nation,” Rajnath observed.
Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram, who accompanied him, will stay in the area, visit the affected villages, talk to the people and submit a report to the Centre soon, he said.