Welcoming the participants, Mr. Indranil Banerjie said that Islamist militancy in Northeast India was assuming a serious threat with its cross border linkages. In such circumstances, Mr. Banerjie commended Mr. Saikia for writing a book on the issue and thanked all the participants for attending the function.

Felicitating Jaideep Saikia on his latest book, Mr. Nandy briefly described the different phases of Islamist militancy in Northeast India. According to Mr. Nandy, Islamist militancy is taking roots in India's Northeast, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Arakan Hill region) and the parts of Southeast Asia as well. Mr. Nandy pointed out that the project of ensuring democracy and secularism in post 1971 Bangladesh had failed to take roots with the assassination of former president Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. Mr. Nandy stated that the JeI's influence expanded in Bangladesh after 1991 when the Bangladesh Nationalist Party came to power with the JeI's support. Events such as targeting killing of Hindu minorities and the banning of Taslima Nasreen's book marked the Bangladeshi Mullah's agenda of replicating Afghanistan's Taliban model of governance in Bangladesh. In the past decade, growing fundamentalism in Bangladesh spilled over in India's Northeast region and particularly, in Assam. Mr. Nandy described Bangladesh as a disrupted and dysfunctional state. Incidents like the 21 August 2004 attack on Sheikh Hasina, according to Mr. Nandy, indicate that the situation is alarming and a catastrophic incident may happen in the near future which could affect India's security as well. In such circumstances, Mr. Nandy said that Jaideep Saikia's book was relevant for understanding the growing Islamist militancy in the Northeast.

Gen. Bopanna, who had headed a division in Assam for three years, commended Mr. Saikia for his extensive research on Assam and Northeast India for the past several years. Gen. Bopanna said that Mr. Saikia had a very good command over his area of study and presented his views clearly through his writings. Gen. Bopanna said that policy makers often get misled by what is written in the media and books. Gen. Bopanna recalled that Mr. Saikia used to accompany army patrol teams during their anti-insurgency raids in Assam. The General also praised the situation reports authored by Mr. Saikia on issues relating to Assam. Some of these reports were compiled into a collection called 'Contours', while some were published by journals like Faultlines. Gen. Bopanna pointed out to the dangers due to the increasing influx of Bangladeshi people into India. Gen. Bopanna said that New Delhi should take notice of the Northeast and not ignore it as it alienated the people of this region. Gen. Bopanna mentioned that New Delhi should formulate a long-term strategy to address the problems of the Northeast. Gen. Bopanna commended Mr. Saikia's book which he said was well researched and written in an easy to read format.

Addressing the gathering, Prof. Cohen said that a day before, on 18 September, he had inaugurated a collection of papers dedicated to analyst K. Subrahmaniam. Prof. Cohen has contributed a paper in that collection as well. Prof. Cohen recalled that he came to know Mr. Saikia when the latter had pursued a research programme in the US. Prof. Cohen said that Mr. Saikia was an excellent student and was short listed for a prestigious fellowship in a programme founded by Prof. Cohen. Though Prof. Cohen did not speak on Islamist militancy in Northeast India, he talked about the threat of global terrorism and policy options to counter it. Speaking on the subject of terrorism, Prof. Cohen said that the word being abused in the English language. Differing from the several definitions of terrorism, Prof. Cohen said he viewed terrorism as a political tactic for political purposes. Prof. Cohen said that globalisation of Islamist terrorism was a significant phenomenon. Prof. Cohen outlined some policy options to deal with terrorism. The first requirement is to have a good defence and security system which would safeguard all important buildings and infrastructure from terrorist attacks. The second option is to go on the offensive when required. However, Prof. Cohen warned that the offensive action should produce a new generation of terrorists. Prof. Cohen cited American policy in Iraq as an instance which may have produced a new generation of terrorists.

Cohen releasing Saikia's book
Prof. Cohen praised India's functioning democracy which has absorbed many such groups that could have otherwise taken up terrorism as a means of livelihood. He said that while the space for absorbing such groups was available in India, the same was not true of neighbouring countries like Pakistan. Prof. Cohen, however, said that the Indian government was facing a problem in generating jobs and employment opportunities in the Northeast. Prof. Cohen also commended India's contribution in world peace by the principle of Gandhian non-violence, which he said was relevant even today. Prof. Cohen said that India's Northeast, parts of China, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) are some of the last areas that are yet to be integrated in the global economy. Prof. Cohen said that the problem of terrorism emanating from these regions could be addressed to a large extent if they get integrated into the global economy. Prof. Cohen said that the possibility of such integration could be explored through regional dialogue forums like the BIMST-EC, SCO etc. He also urged that Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs should look towards investing in these regions for promoting economic cooperation and generating employment for the local people. Prof. Cohen said that the policy community cannot simply criticise terrorism. Rather, it should evolve a long-term engagement to resolve terrorism. Prof. Cohen ended his presentation by inaugurating Mr. Saikia's book.

Presenting the vote of thanks, Mr. Jaideep Saikia expressed gratitude to the SAPRA India Foundation for organising the function. He said that he was a student of security and the book is about militancy and not religion.