In an exclusive interview to The Indian Express, Lt Gen Shekatkar said opinion leaders in the State, as well as the media, were now becoming more ``expressive against militancy and secessionism, thus raising hope that things were moving in the right direction in Assam''.

According to him, this was not just because of the Army's presence. The people themselves are waking up to reality. They are speaking out. The common man is fed up, he said. He has seen the ``economic problems being faced by Assam because of insurgency''. The GOC also pointed out that the activities of the ULFA in attempting to draw international attention too haddiminished over the years. `` This is because the major international human rights organisations are not convinced with what the ULFA was saying,''he added.

He also referred to the Sanjoy Ghosh episode, which earned a bad name for the outfit during the past two years. When pointed out that ULFA has set up its own website, the GOC said he wondered how many people across the globe would want to click on that website.

The GOC also revealed that a number of ULFA activists holed up in the Bhutan camps were gradually trickling out and moving into Myanmar. A self-styled doctor, who was apprehended by the Army near Khonsa in Arunachal Pradesh a few days ago, had revealed that ``there were about 200 boys and 30 girl cadres of the outfit in the Myanmar camp, recently set up with the help of the NSCN (K)''.

The doctor, Gen Shekatkar said, was carrying medicine worth about Rs 3.50 lakh to the ULFA hideout, when he was apprehended by the Army. When asked about top ULFA leaders, the GOC said that while chairmanArabinda Rajkhowa was still in Bhutan, commander-in-chief Paresh Barua and two others were in Bangkok.

He added that Paresh Barua had recently come to Bangladesh and tried to meet ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia, who is currently lodged in a DHKA jail, but he failed. The ULFA was also desperately trying to recruit fresh cadres into its armed wing, and has so far recruited two batches during the past eight months, Lt Gen Shekatkar informed. ``While the first group consisted of 25 boys, the second group had 46,'' he added.