During the Bangladesh War of 1971, more than five million Bangladeshi Muslim refugees flooded Assam. Students who protested this large-scale immigration during the late 1970s and early '80s were violently suppressed by Assam's military. Ongoing heavy-handed government suppression of dissent feeds the growth of militant separatist movements that define themselves along communal and tribal lines. The relationship between government and youth has especially deteriorated because the government typically views all young persons as potential militants.
More than 600 people in Assam died from the violence last year. Threats against the railways have halted nighttime operation of all important
trains in the region. Assam's socio-economic conditions remain poor because instability discourages outside investment in business and social projects; non-resident owners of Assam's industries do little to reinvest in social development; and India's central government maintains a continuing policy of neglect.
The most powerful insurgent group is the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), which operates a network of extortion, criminal and quasi-legal operations. Criminal elements have been swift to take advantage of Assam's instability, creating a nexus of militants, criminals and corrupt government officials. They have steadily exploited Assam's wealth of natural resources, at the expense of local residents, with collusion from corrupt members of Congress.
Forests and wildlife have been relentlessly depleted as both insurgents and criminals exploit their resources for quick financial gain. Casual forest employees, who fall in the bottom rungs of the government Forest Department, often work in close comradeship with militants and smugglers so that timber smuggling, poaching, and extremist activities continue unabated. In addition, Assam's wildlife reserves and forests have been heavily encroached upon by illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. This puts pressure on forest resources and the land, dividing the local population along religious lines (Hindus and Christians versus Muslim) and causing increased tension between "outsiders" and locals.
Militants from the United Liberation