The State Special Branch did not have a separate existence till 1965, as it had been functioning under the DIG of Police, CID. In 1965 the Special Branch was bifurcated from the CID and was placed under the command, control and supervision of the DIG of Police, SB. Eventually this position has been upgraded to that of an Additional Director General of Police who exercises overall command, control and supervision of the Branch.

This branch deals with the collection, collation and dissemination of intelligence having security and law and order implications. It usually deals with sensitive matters like public agitation, subversive activities which carry potential and real danger to the security of the state and the nation. Security matters of the vital istallations and key industries also fall within it's purview.

With the development and use of sophisticated technology in the electronics field, the special branch has geared itself to keep pace with these developments by upgrading itself in all spheres in the last years. It has made significant improvements in using modern techniques and in the restructuring as well as in the redeploying of its personnel to cater to the needs of effective intelligence.

The work of the Special Branch continues to be carried out through three different set ups:

1. Headquarters set-up
2. Zonal set-ups, and
3. DSB setup in the dsitricts.

The DSBs are administratively under the Special Branch Headquarters but operationally under the respective Superintendent of Police of the District. It has an effective network of intelligence and has been rendering valuable service to the State.

A NOTE ON INSURGENCY AND LAW AND ORDER SITUATION IN THE STATE OF ASSAM (15th May '1996 to 30th November' 2000)

The state of Assam has been badly affected by armed insurgency over the last one and a half decades with various insurgent groups like the ULFA, NDFB, DHD, UPDS, NSCN waging a low intensity war against the lawfully established Government. Ever since they were formed, the major insurgent groups ULFA and NDFB have committed scores of incidents of mindless violence like murders, bomb explosions, kidnapping for ransom etc. which have had a serious bearing on the law and order situation of the state.

The unrestricted trans-border movement of the cadres of such extremist groups facilitated by the extensive porous border with Bangladesh and Bhutan, safe hideouts in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar and the hilly terrain of neighboring states have all contributed to the deterioration of the law and order situation in the State.

Despite efforts made by successive State Govts. to hammer out an amicable solution of this insurgency, it continues, causing law and order problems frequently. The S.S. C-in-C of ULFA, Paresh Baruah and S.S. C-in-C of NDFB, Ranjan Doimari and some of the top brass of these two outfits have been masterminding extremist operations from foreign countries like Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal all these years, rejecting the offers for a negotiated settlement of the problem made repeatedly by the Govts in the past. The present Govt., therefore, has taken a hardline approach to the problem of insurgency in order to bring about an improvement on the law and order front by coming down heavily on the extremist outfits. Counter insurgency operations launched under the 'Unified Command Structure' consisting of the Civil Administration, Army, Central Paramilitary Forces and the State Police with effect from 21-01-97, have produced spectacular results.

From May 15th, 1996 till November 30th, 2000, as many as 5860 militants of different groups have been captured and 842 hardcore terrorists have been killed. Apart from this, a  huge quantity of arms and ammunitions as well as cash have been recovered from different militant groups. This is a remarkable achievement on the part of the State Govt. in its fight against terrorism against all odds. 367 security personnel laid down their lives in this fight against terrorism during this period.

In the current year, considerable success has been achieved by the Police, PMF and Army against extremist outfits like ULFA, NDFB, NSCN, DHD, UPDS and other smaller outfits (during encounters and raids) in which a number of ultras were killed and arrested in addition to recovery of a huge cache of arms and ammunitions from their possession.

There have been 532 incidents of extremist related violence in the State from 1-1-2000 to 30-11-2000 which resulted in the killing of 362 persons, including 74 Police/PMF/Army personnel and kidnapping of 73 persons for ransom. There were 235 encounters between Police/PMF and the extremists of ULFA, NDFB and BLT resulting in the death of 308 militants. During operations, Police and PMF recovered 319 Nos. of weapons of different types from the extremists in addition to cash amounting to Rs. 14,59,620/-. The security forces also apprehended 1375 militants during this period.

During counter insurgency operations from 01-01-2000 to 30-11-2000, Police/PMF have apprehended 918 ULFA, 222 NDFB, 9 BLT, 48 UPDS, 20 DHD activists and killed 168 ULFA, 90 NDFB, 5 BLT, 5 UPDS and 4 DHD activists and recovered 269 nos. of arms of different kinds from the three insurgents groups respectively.

In the wake of reverses suffered by the outfits due to the counter insurgency operations, a very significant shift in the stance and the strategy of the extremists groups has been noticed. The constant reverses suffered by the outfits have brought about a sense of frustration and desperation amongst the cadres of the militants outfits, who have started attacking soft and defenseless targets indiscriminately resulting in the increase in casualties of civilians. In as many as 13 incidents of gruesome violence perpetrated by ULFA in Tinsukia, Nalbari, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar and Bongaigaon districts and in one incident of equally gruesome violence perpetrated in Barpeta district by NDFB, 96 persons have been gunned down by these two terrorist outfits. Majority of these were Hindi speaking people and they were killed in isolated places under the cover of darkness over a period of 51 days from 22nd October to 11th December'2000. Despite the emphatic denial made by its self styled C-in-C about the involvement of the outfit in the killings, Assam Police has plenty of evidence to show that all the four incidents of killings were perpetrated by ULFA only and none else. Despite some initial confusion created by the recovery of some leaflets at the site of killing in Nalbari town where the responsibility for the killing was claimed by Assam Tiger Force, the breakthrough made by Police in the cases after investigation confirmed that no extremist outfit called ASSAM TIGER FORCE exists in the State and hence was not involved in any of the killings in the above districts.

The reasons for such indiscriminate killings are not far to seek. In the first place, by indulging in such indiscriminate killings, the outfits are making a determined effort to disgrace the State Govt, which has taken a hard line approach to the problem of insurgency. Secondly, plagued by the ideological differences cropping up between the middle and lower level cadres of the outfits with the top brass compelling some of middle and lower level functionaries to return to the mainstream by laying down arms, the outfits have suffered a great setback and are indulging in more and more indiscriminate killings in a desperate bid to prove their existence and to boost up the sagging morale of their remaining cadres. Thirdly, the top brass, including a section of hardcore cadres of the outfits, do not want the peace process initiated by the State Govt to succeed and they have perpetrated the gruesome violence to derail the ongoing peace process. Lastly, with the public of the state rising in revolt against the outfits, the frustration and desperation of the outfits seem to have reached the limit.

The problem of insurgency in the state acquired another important dimension when Assam Police gathered sufficient evidence of Pakistani intelligence agency - ISI's involvement in fomenting violence and terrorism in the State. Assam Police is in possession of evidence to prove the nexus of the top ULFA leadership with certain officials of the Pakistani High Commission in Dacca. According to the confessional statement of scores of arrested ULFA leaders, including their self-styled Vice Chairman Pradip Gogoi, presently lodged in jail, the Pakistani officials in their High Commission in Dacca arranged for their passports in various Muslim names and sent them to Karachi. During the Kargil Conflict, the ULFA issued a statement condemning the Indian Government's role in Kashmir. The language of the above statement was exactly the same as that issued by the Harkat ul Mujahideen, a Pakistan based terrorist outfit controlled by the ISI.

The arrest of the four ISI operatives and agents by Guwahati Police in the middle of 1999 led to the startling revelation that a section of Muslim religious leaders and youths from Goalpara, Dhubri, Barpeta, Nalbari etc.districts have been making trans-border movement to Pakistan via Bangladesh for arms and explosive training organised by various Pakistani and Afganistani terrorist outfits like Harkat-Ul-Jehad, Harkat-Ul-Mujahideen and Laskar-E-Toiba, as per the plans of the ISI. The recent arrest of Nanu Mia alias Bilial, a Bangladeshi, an activist of HuM, led to a sensational revelation that Fakaruddin alias Akram Master of Barpeta, the Amir, HuM of Assam, based in Pakistan was to come to Assam along with 20 other HuM activists to attempt a jail break to free Quari Salim and other HuM activists presently lodged in jails of Assam. This indicates the extent of the involvement of Foreign powers in the State.