Halflong:
The government has forced the railways to resume operations in N C Hills but the law and order situation is still extremely sensitive. A report from on the ground.
One forty kilometre of railroad marked by 15 companies of CRPF personnel engaged in track patrolling - this is an unprecedented security measure even for a militarised zone like N C Hills.
The government was determined to flag off the passenger train from Lumding to Silchar after train running was suspended for two months. The DHD(J) militants had struck 7 times since April this year on trains passing through N C Hills.
Eighty-two companies of security forces are fighting not more than 200 armed militants and yet there are no encounters, no surrenders, no coordination between security forces and no actionable ground intelligence. Counter-insurgency operations in N C Hills is far from satisfactory.
The burden of peacekeeping with several armed groups in the NE is very heavy and that is why the government is tentative about any new ceasefire offer. And though it is a police state out here, today the DHD and both its factions are in de facto control of N C Hills.