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North East- Assam : ULFA up in arms again

	August 30, 2004

After lying low for some time since it was uprooted from Bhutan, the banned militant outfit, United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), is up in arms again.

The series of bomb blasts triggered by the outfit that killed six persons and injured 60 last week is alarming. These incidents come close on the heels of the explosion at Dhemaji in northern Assam that killed 16 people on Independence Day. Surely, the ghastly attacks are an attempt by the militant organisation to mark its presence.

According some observers, the blasts seem to be the handiwork of the anti-talk faction of the secessionist outfit, which has been opposing Dr Manmohan Singh government’s offer for peace talks. What is clear is that this faction would like to show that ULFA is still a force to reckon with and even if its leaders joined the talks, they would do so from a position of strength.



Challenge to Gogoi

The Assam Opposition exploded a political bomb on Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi a day after the Ulfa triggered a series of explosions across the state.

Blaming the Congress government for the spate of violence, the AGP and the BJP demanded Gogoi’s resignation, dissolution of the Assembly and mid-term polls. A seemingly unperturbed chief minister was, however, busy in PCC meetings throughout the day.

An AGP delegation will call on the President and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi next month to apprise them about the situation in the state.

The BJP also denounced the Ulfa for triggering a spate of violence in the state and accused it of being a stooge of the Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).



Government to get tough with militants

Meanwhile, the state Government has hardened its stand against militancy with Chief Minister brushing aside the Ulfa’s offer for talks. The Unified Command, too, decided to intensify its fight against terror by launching a campaign on organisations and individuals “sympathetic” to the Ulfa.

Terming the Ulfa’s offer for talks with “sovereignty” as the core issue as “untenable”, Gogoi said on August 28 that “by sticking to sovereignty, the outfit has itself negated the offer. How can Delhi discuss sovereignty with any group and yet maintain the integrity of the country.”

Gogoi’s tough stand was also reflected in the decision taken by the three-tier unified command at the meeting held at the Assam Administrative Staff College. The security forces took stock of the situation arising out of the serial blasts carried out by the Ulfa in the state on Thursday last.

The decision is significant because it comes in the wake of the Centre’s declaration that five NGOs of the northeast, including the Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti of Assam, are under the scanner for their alleged links with the militant outfits of the region.

Assam Home Commissioner B.K. Gohain said the participants at the unified command meeting decided to strengthen co-ordination between police, army and the paramilitary forces and conduct more joint operations in the Ulfa strongholds. The decision was taken following reports of the outfit planning suicide attacks.

The unified command meeting is also understood to have drawn up a two-pronged strategy in view of the changed security scenario. The command will launch a psychological warfare to erode the base of public support the militants enjoy.

Union Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday last that five NGOs “have come to our notice for their links with terrorist organisations of the Northeast region”. The NGOs, however, denied the Centre’s allegation.



Ulfa fast losing friends and sympathisers

Ulfa, according to reports, is fast losing public sympathy. Not only general public, even extremist outfits such as

AASU (All Assam Students’ Union) have come out in the open against ULFA designs. Killing of 16 people, 10 of them schoolchildren, at Dhemaji on Independence Day has shocked even its staunchest supporters and invited widespread condemnation.

In what is significant, following this cold blooded act, a senior Aasu leader said his party neither subscribed to the Ulfa demand for Swadhin Asom nor supported its armed struggle. In what could be a turning point in relations between the two outfits, self-styled Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Barua took umbrage and retorted that since Aasu was involved in massacring a large number of Bangladeshi immigrants at Nellie in 1983, it had no moral right to criticise the Ulfa. Aasu also expressed its displeasure by shutting off life for a day. Ulfa’s misconception that killing and mayhem will return it to centre stage is costing it friends all round and it must rethink strategy. Its relationship with the AGP is far from cordial. In a sense, the Ulfa lost face in 1997 after it abducted and killed social worker Sanjay Ghosh and forced the closure of his NGO that was constructing a Majuli island dyke to stave off erosions. Nor has the Ulfa threat deterred the electorate from exercising their franchise.

If Ulfa’s hardcore leaders have the people’s welfare at heart, they must surrender. Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa is said to have mellowed but he is still unpredictable given the Catch-22 situation in which he finds himself. It is Paresh Barua who wields the gun and leans heavily on foreign agencies inimical to India for material support. He is turning insurgency into terrorism. Ulfa has degenerated into a band of criminals and robbers. Dhemaji may not be the end of the road, but every drop of blood it spills weakens Ulfa’s commitment to Swadhim Asom. Its murderous agenda leaves little scope for a political solution. Perhaps the Centre will have to think in terms of another Operation Rhino to deflect the political interference.