By IANS
Guwahati : The Assam government Friday said it will take legal action against former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta for his alleged role in the ‘secret killings’ of relatives of separatists between 1998 and 2001.
“We shall constitute a legal expert team, including counsels from outside Assam, and take their opinion on what action can be taken against Mahanta,” Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told journalists here.
The move to take action against Mahanta comes after the government tabled the Justice K.N. Saikia Commission report in the state assembly Thursday in which the former chief minister who was then heading the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) government was indicted.
“We shall definitely take action against Mahanta and some other senior police officials as the report is very clear about connivance of the state government, police and some surrendered ULFA cadres in the secret killings,” Gogoi said.
Some 45 close relatives of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) guerrillas were killed across the state between 1998 and 2001 when Mahanta was heading the AGP government.
The ‘secret killings’, as they came to be known, became a major issue during the assembly polls in 2001 in which the Congress led by Gogoi returned to power, defeating the AGP.
Mahanta has since left the AGP and floated the Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive).
“Even the ministers during the then AGP government should be collectively held responsible for the heinous crime,” the chief minister said.
“The modus operandi of all the secret killings were same … hooded gunmen attacking the houses of ULFA relatives in the dead of night; and the police and the government machinery did nothing to investigate the cases,” Gogoi said.
Mahanta denied the charges and said it was a politically motivated report aimed at “finishing off” his political career.
“Mahanta is already a half-dead politician and his party has just one legislator in the house. I challenge Mahanta to file a case in the court to reject the commission’s report,” the chief minister said.
The state government first set up an enquiry commission headed by former Gauhati High Court judge Meera Sharma, but it was dismissed after she expressed her inability to carry out the probe.
In 2005, the Congress government dismissed the report of a second commission, headed by retired Justice J.N. Sharma, terming it inconclusive.
The enquiry process got embroiled in controversy because the Sharma Commission was accused of being soft towards Mahanta, particularly because it had failed to nail anyone for apparent lack of evidence.
In August 2005, the Gogoi government set up the Justice Saikia commission. It completed its findings in August this year after questioning several political leaders and senior police officials to ascertain their possible role in the mysterious killings.
The Justice Saikia Commission report has recommended the dissolution of the unified headquarters of the army, police and paramilitary forces in Assam.
The unified command came up in January 1997 to tackle insurgency in the state.
In an action-taken report, also tabled in the assembly, the Assam government said it would duly consider the commission’s suggestion, a response bound to surprise the counter-insurgency machinery in the state.
“We want the unified command structure to be dismantled once there is peace and normalcy in the state. But at the moment, the situation is not conducive to withdraw” the unified headquarters, Gogoi said.