Jumbos corner rebels - Herd destroys hideouts on sandbanks

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061122/asp/frontpage/story_7034022.asp

 

Jumbos corner rebels

- Herd destroys hideouts on sandbanks

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Jorhat, Nov. 21: In Hindi films, the police invariably arrive well

after the hero has vanquished the villain. Now, a herd of wild

elephants has done what the police had only been thinking of doing:

evict Ulfa militants from their makeshift camps on the sandbanks

dotting the Brahmaputra in Assam.

 

Police officials in Jorhat district, one of the strongholds of the

outlawed Ulfa, today confirmed that elephants had destroyed several

makeshift camps of the militant group on the chaporis — Assamese for

sandbank — off Neamati. " We had information about the rebels setting

up camps on these small islands and were planning to take action.

But the elephants did the job for us, " a senior police officer said.

 

Ranjit Das, a boat operator who was arrested yesterday from the

heritage island of Majuli for helping Ulfa militants cross the

river, told the police that elephants had been roaming the chaporis

over the past two weeks and destroying everything in their path. He

said the marauding herds had not only demolished Ulfa camps but also

forced the militants to change their travel plans.

 

" Militants prefer to cross the river by night but no boatman wants

to take the risk now for fear of running into wild elephants on the

sandbanks, " he was quoted as saying.

 

Assistant conservator of forests Gunin Saikia said the 100-strong

herd was first spotted off Neamati a couple of weeks ago. " The

elephants may have strayed from the Dibru-Saikhowa forest or the

wildlife habitats on the Dhemaji side of the north bank. The herd

has since been moving from one chapori to another. "

 

Police personnel in plainclothes surveyed the sandbanks today and

found remnants of several Ulfa camps. " The signs of destruction by

elephants are unmistakable. Our team also found abandoned shelters,

which means that the militants have fled for fear of being attacked

by elephants. They cannot fire at the herd because that would draw

attention, " a member of the team said.

 

Sandbanks appear on the Brahmaputra when it recedes in winter,

enabling militants to set up camps that can be detected easily but

are difficult to raid. " Raiding these hideouts is a difficult task.

Security forces cannot mount surprise attacks because there is no

place to hide. Everything is visible for miles. By the time we reach

a camp, the militants are gone, " the police officer said.

 

Kidnapped social worker Sanjoy Ghose, who had started an anti-

erosion project in Majuli, is believed to have been killed on one

such chapori in 1997.

 

A militant who was arrested from a village on the bank of the

Brahmaputra in Jorhat district told interrogators that Ulfa members

taking shelter on the sandbanks move from one hideout to another in

hired boats at night.

 

Elephants have been troubling militants even in the mainland. An

elephant was gunned down by militants near Champang Basti in

Mokokchung district of neighbouring Nagaland a few days ago after a

herd destroyed several huts in the area. A joint team of militants

from Assam and Nagaland had been hiding in those huts.