By Kishalay Bhattacharjee
Guwahati, Sep 6 : Ransom letters seem to be a thing of the past. In Northeast's new-age militancy, neat CDs of abductions and torture are being reached out to families of victims and media newsrooms.
Terrorism here was always hungry for money. But now, it seems, it's equally hungry for publicity. As the long-dragged out insurgency here becomes stale news militants seem to be opening up inside stories to grab media attention back.
This is new to the terrain of militancy in the northeast. A CD has been delivered by ultras to the house of these kidnapped victims in order to step up the pressure for ransom.
''Brother please come and take us away. They will kill us,'' says the kidnapped person.
Kishore Choudhury and his friend Sanju Debroy were kidnapped from a town near Nowgaon in Assam on July 22. A group that calls itself the Dima Halim Daogah or the Dima Army demanded a ransom of Rs 15 crore.
Complaints of torture
Later they slashed the demand by half.
''We can't raise so much money. Even if we sell everything, we won't come close to a fraction of what they are demanding. We heard him cry, asking for help. The family is traumatised. We appeal to the militants to release him,'' said Vijay Choudhury, brother of Kishore.
There seems to be no consolation for the family after what they have seen. Not even after the police assured them that these visuals in the CD appear staged and exaggerated.
The CD soon found it's way into national media, leaving the Tarun Gogoi government embarrassed, even more so, because the government is negotiating ceasefire with this very Dima Army.
''It's very very disturbing. I have never seen such torture. It's the first time they have tortured victims like this. Earlier we never heard of any complaints of torture. When they were released we were told that they got food and relief. And as everyone knows these groups are engaged in extortion they don't have any ideology,'' said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
The CM started talking tough and threatened to pull out of the ceasefire if the hostages were not released immediately. But in this hostile terrain of militancy nothing is what it appears.
Unexpected visitors
As the kidnappers now threatened to sell off the boys' organs in Bangladesh, NDTV received unexpected visitors at its Guwahati office.
It was the commander-in-chief of the Dima Army, Dilip Nunisa, and he wanted to tell his side of the story.
''We have seen from the TV that two boys are very much brutally beaten up. In this case some agencies blamed my group DHD is involved. My clarification is that no DHD and no members of DHD are involved. We are investigating as to who are involved. I have already authorised my people to investigate who are involved,'' he said.
Police has refused to give this statement any credence. They say bigger group like ULFA use their own name in abductions. But groups in ceasefire cannot. So they fall back on trickery and lies.
Ransom is one of the quickest ways of making money, a strategy militants of northeast have mastered over the years.
The most conventional mode of demanding kidnap ransom was through extortion notes on letterheads of militant outfits. Then there were phone calls. But now they are using tactics used by global terrorists.
Organised extortion racket
The ATTF militant group in Tripura circulated a CD among tribal villages on the eve of Independence Day. It shows a police combing operation in the militant zones. This was a message for villagers: If we can film the police during its undercover operations we can also outdo them.
Stamped with a logo of Freedom Channel, the CD, police say was edited and packaged in Bangladesh.
In neighbouring Nagaland, the state with the most organised extortion racket, militant groups have started deducting ransom right at the source of income.
They have arrived at negotiations whereby the cashier of government departments pays for the entire agency on a given date. And if the money does not come on time reminder letters decorated with grenades are quick to arrive.
Now a prominent militant outfit, NSCN(K), has come up with a simpler method. They blatantly advertise bank account numbers in which the concerned people are requested to deposit their share of ransom.
Are these then just terror tactics and ransom threats? Or is this posturing to grab national headlines, from which the decades-long militancy is slowly slipping out?
Media glare
A few months ago in Manipur NDTV was invited to film a rare sight. Fourteen Kuki rebel groups, bitter enemies until now, were coming together and they wanted to display their armed power.
The leader of one of the factions explained that they have come together to fight a common enemy, the Nagas.
But why this new found display of solidarity? And this rare access? Like allowing us to film not just their martial posturing but even rebels listening to Bollywood songs and showing photos of their girlfriends?
Why do militants adopt such exaggerated measures to kidnap collect ransom or even combat? The answers are not easy to come by.
But on the surface it shows a need for publicity for media glare from which these militants perhaps derive some validity and some prominence that helps them spread the fear.
NDTV
Guwahati, Sep 6 : Ransom letters seem to be a thing of the past. In Northeast's new-age militancy, neat CDs of abductions and torture are being reached out to families of victims and media newsrooms.
Terrorism here was always hungry for money. But now, it seems, it's equally hungry for publicity. As the long-dragged out insurgency here becomes stale news militants seem to be opening up inside stories to grab media attention back.
This is new to the terrain of militancy in the northeast. A CD has been delivered by ultras to the house of these kidnapped victims in order to step up the pressure for ransom.
''Brother please come and take us away. They will kill us,'' says the kidnapped person.
Kishore Choudhury and his friend Sanju Debroy were kidnapped from a town near Nowgaon in Assam on July 22. A group that calls itself the Dima Halim Daogah or the Dima Army demanded a ransom of Rs 15 crore.
Complaints of torture
Later they slashed the demand by half.
''We can't raise so much money. Even if we sell everything, we won't come close to a fraction of what they are demanding. We heard him cry, asking for help. The family is traumatised. We appeal to the militants to release him,'' said Vijay Choudhury, brother of Kishore.
There seems to be no consolation for the family after what they have seen. Not even after the police assured them that these visuals in the CD appear staged and exaggerated.
The CD soon found it's way into national media, leaving the Tarun Gogoi government embarrassed, even more so, because the government is negotiating ceasefire with this very Dima Army.
''It's very very disturbing. I have never seen such torture. It's the first time they have tortured victims like this. Earlier we never heard of any complaints of torture. When they were released we were told that they got food and relief. And as everyone knows these groups are engaged in extortion they don't have any ideology,'' said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
The CM started talking tough and threatened to pull out of the ceasefire if the hostages were not released immediately. But in this hostile terrain of militancy nothing is what it appears.
Unexpected visitors
As the kidnappers now threatened to sell off the boys' organs in Bangladesh, NDTV received unexpected visitors at its Guwahati office.
It was the commander-in-chief of the Dima Army, Dilip Nunisa, and he wanted to tell his side of the story.
''We have seen from the TV that two boys are very much brutally beaten up. In this case some agencies blamed my group DHD is involved. My clarification is that no DHD and no members of DHD are involved. We are investigating as to who are involved. I have already authorised my people to investigate who are involved,'' he said.
Police has refused to give this statement any credence. They say bigger group like ULFA use their own name in abductions. But groups in ceasefire cannot. So they fall back on trickery and lies.
Ransom is one of the quickest ways of making money, a strategy militants of northeast have mastered over the years.
The most conventional mode of demanding kidnap ransom was through extortion notes on letterheads of militant outfits. Then there were phone calls. But now they are using tactics used by global terrorists.
Organised extortion racket
The ATTF militant group in Tripura circulated a CD among tribal villages on the eve of Independence Day. It shows a police combing operation in the militant zones. This was a message for villagers: If we can film the police during its undercover operations we can also outdo them.
Stamped with a logo of Freedom Channel, the CD, police say was edited and packaged in Bangladesh.
In neighbouring Nagaland, the state with the most organised extortion racket, militant groups have started deducting ransom right at the source of income.
They have arrived at negotiations whereby the cashier of government departments pays for the entire agency on a given date. And if the money does not come on time reminder letters decorated with grenades are quick to arrive.
Now a prominent militant outfit, NSCN(K), has come up with a simpler method. They blatantly advertise bank account numbers in which the concerned people are requested to deposit their share of ransom.
Are these then just terror tactics and ransom threats? Or is this posturing to grab national headlines, from which the decades-long militancy is slowly slipping out?
Media glare
A few months ago in Manipur NDTV was invited to film a rare sight. Fourteen Kuki rebel groups, bitter enemies until now, were coming together and they wanted to display their armed power.
The leader of one of the factions explained that they have come together to fight a common enemy, the Nagas.
But why this new found display of solidarity? And this rare access? Like allowing us to film not just their martial posturing but even rebels listening to Bollywood songs and showing photos of their girlfriends?
Why do militants adopt such exaggerated measures to kidnap collect ransom or even combat? The answers are not easy to come by.
But on the surface it shows a need for publicity for media glare from which these militants perhaps derive some validity and some prominence that helps them spread the fear.
NDTV
