‘Joint force needed to combat terrorism, crime in NE’

Guwahati, June 29 (IANS) The Assam government on Thursday advocated the setting up of a North East Police Force for better coordination in managing terrorism and crime in the northeast.

The joint force has also been proposed for a better security mechanism at inter-state borders for reducing crimes like arms and drugs trafficking and insurgent movements.

Assam Director General of Police Mukesh Sahay said this while speaking at the 24th two-day annual conference of the DGPs and IGPs of the northeast, which got underway at the Assam Administrative Staff College on Thursday.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated the two-day conference and said "a concerted effort to fight terrorism and crimes in northeast is the need of the hour through a joint mechanism".

"In a region like northeast inhabited by diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious groups, it is the police force which provide a sense of confidence to the people and allay their fears over security," Sonowal said, addressing the conference.

The Assam Chief Minister also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's special emphasis to improve the security scenario in the northeast while making an all-out effort to promote all-round development in the region.

Sonowal said the national level DGPs/IGPs conference was held in Guwahati in 2014, for the first time outside Delhi, and this indicated the central government's commitment to improve the region's security scenario.

He also said the Assam government is initiating measures to build a smart police force as advocated by Modi for enabling efficient law and order management with the help of technology and to meet modern day challenges.

Sonowal reiterated that a secure environment is the prerequisite to usher in rapid development.

"Conferences like these help in creating better synergy between the police forces of all states and different security agencies which would help in formulating effective plan for security preparedness and modern technology must be utilised for better policing," the Chief Minister added.