North-East sees drop in abduction cases this year; NSCN (K) continues to pose threat

NEW DELHI: Kidnappings, a staple insurgent activity in the North-East, has seen a significant decline this year, with the worst-affected state of Assam showing a nearly 70 per cent drop in kidnapping incidents even as the recently banned NSCN (K) outfit resorted to maximum abductions for any outfit in 2015.

Latest home ministry figures as on September 15 accessed by ET show that 182 kidnappings have been reported this year from the seven northeastern states compared to 250 in the same period last year and 369 in all in 2014. Assam has seen the biggest drop — from 125 in 2013 and 94 in 2014 to only 24 so far this year, kidnappings in Meghalaya are down from 110 last year to 45 so far this year and the same is down to 24 in Arunachal Pradesh from 49 last year.

The maximum kidnappings by any outfit in the North-East this year, 34, have been done by the just-banned NSCN (K) outfit in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, followed by 24 by NSCN (KK) in both these states and 15 by the NSCN (IM) — with which a framework agreement was signed recently. In fact, Nagaland has now overtaken Assam as the state worst affected by kidnappings, reporting 55 cases already compared to 65 in all in 2014.



The Naga outfits in Manipur along with NSCN (K) have meanwhile emerged as the most violent north-east outfits this year, resorting to 65 incidents of terrorism and inflicting 27 casualties on security forces this year through ambush attacks in Manipur and Nagaland on convoys of Army and Assam Rifles – the total casualties of security forces this year have hence jumped almost 300 per cent to 40 from only 12 in 2014.

Civilian casualties are however down to a record low at only 32 casualties this year compared to 114 in the same period last year.

Tripura, where the state government lifted AFSPA earlier this year, continues to be the most peaceful state in the North-East, reporting only one violent incident, a single civilian death and two killings of security forces. Manipur, the worst-affected state by insurgency in N-E, has seen an improvement, with violent incidents down by nearly 25 per cent.