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Flash Back September 1997
People turn around to condemn Terrorism
It can be stated without contradiction that the Army has not been able to liquidate insurgency despite launching of two operations ? Operations Bajrang and Operation Rhino in Assam since November 29, 1990. The state has enforced the Disturbed Areas Act and the Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1959, and there is no difficulty for the security forces to operate. Under the provisions of these Acts, any Army official not below the rank of a Havildar can fire upon any person without orders from the Magistrate. Raids and searches can be carried out by them even at night. Such sweeping and arbitrary powers also have not yielded the desired results. In this background it is unrealistic to expect that the clamping of President?s Rule would eradicate insurgency and violence. The setting up of the ?unified headquarters? or unified command structure since January 20, 1997 has also not produced the desired results. However, it would be patently unfair to deny any credit to the new organization arrangement for containing the insurgency.......
