London: Terrorism in India's Northeastern states, where civilian deaths due to militancy "have been declining" over the years, is not a priority for the government, according to secret US cables published by the Wikileaks.
Cables released by the whistle-blower website show that US diplomats in New Delhi are of the view that terrorism in India's northeast states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, and Meghalaya has attracted "little attention" from the government.
"This variant of Indian terrorism, like Naxalism, attracts little attention from Delhi," according to the cable dated April 18, 2006 from New Delhi.
"Terrorism in India's Northeast states consists of many groups -- some of which maintain bases in Bangladesh," the diplomatic cable said, adding they "are small in number compared to other terrorist organizations in India, and their reach does not extend out of the region."
"Civilian deaths due to terrorism in the Northeasthave been declining in recent years, according to Indian government data and a leading independent Indian terrorism expert," said the cable reported in British daily The Guardian.
It said between 300 and 350 civilians were killed in Northeast terrorism for 2005.
Comments
0 comment