But intelligence agencies feel the MFOs raison detr e, which is protection of Muslim interests, and their area of operationULFA-dominated districtsbodes ill for the regions security scenario. "Take it from me," says a senior intelligence officer in Guwahati, "Muslim militancy will be a big threat in 10 years time." Like elsewhere in the North-east, Muslims came to Assam as mostly cheap labour and constituted a huge votebank for their political masters to encash, which ensured their survival. But native fury at the resultant demographic inversion appears to have activated their defence mechanism.