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North East : Assam : ULFA declared terrorist organisation

	May 02, 2005

The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) is one of the several terrorist outfits in the North-East region of India. The organisation which once had influence even in the neighbouring Himayalyan kingdom of Bhutan, has attracted US attention.

The State Department, in its “2004 Country Reports on Terrorism” released on April 28, added ULFA to the Other Selected Terrorist Organisations (OSTO) List. Groups on the OSTO List are terrorist organisations that do not target the national security of the US or its citizens.

Referring to ULFA as the most prominent insurgent group in India’s northeast, the report noted its use of extortion to finance military training and weapons purchases and that it reportedly procures and trades in arms with other insurgent groups in the northeast. The report said the outfit might have linkages with other ethnic insurgent groups active in neighbouring states, and receives aid from “unknown external sources”.

India has said the group operates from bases in Bangladesh, a charge denied by Dhaka.

The report also added the Communist Party of India-Maoist, formed by the merger of various Maoist groups, to the OSTO List, and expanded the description of Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) to include its operation under various fronts and names of convenience.

The report cited India as an “important ally” in the global war on terror and underlined both countries’ continuing political commitment to combating terrorism together.

It noted the important changes in India’s counter-terrorism legislation, particularly the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and its replacement by a revamped Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (ULPA).

It stressed that India suffered from “hundreds of terrorist attacks” during the year, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir, the northeast, and the “Naxalite belt” and noted the Indian government’s engagement with its neighbours in supporting Bhutanese and Nepalese counter-terrorism efforts

The interim director of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) said Wednesday that there was, on an average, a terrorist attack “nearly every day in Kashmir”. According to the NCTC, there were a total of 284 attacks during the year in Kashmir that met the “statutory criteria for significant terrorist incidents”.

The report said the US-India cooperative counter-terrorism training expanded in 2004, with hundreds of Indian military and law enforcement officers trained in US-sponsored programmes.



State Government establishes links with ULFA for talks

Meanwhile, in a significant development at home, the Assam government has established direct links with the outlawed ULFA for holding peace talks to end more than 26 years of violent insurgency in the region. “We have been able to establish contact with the ULFA. Right now we do not want to divulge any more details about the links,” Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on April 24.

The claim came a day after ULFA said it was ready to give up arms and sit for peace talks within 48 hours if New Delhi agrees to discuss its demand for sovereignty. The ULFA has been fighting for an independent Assamese homeland in Assam since 1979. ULFA, in recent months, has repeatedly offered to hold talks with New Delhi, saying it wanted a negotiated settlement of their demands.

“The oft repeated stand of the government of India asking us to offer a ceasefire instead of agreeing to hold talks is nothing but a deep-rooted conspiracy,” ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa said in a statement on April 23. “If the Government of India accepts our demand for talks on the issue of sovereignty, we are ready to come to Dispur (Assam’s capital) within 48 hours to begin the peace process,” Rajkhowa added.

The Chief Minister described the ULFA statement as “positive” as it sent out “good vibes” for holding talks. “Everybody wants peace and I believe ULFA will also see reason and come for talks to solve the problem across the table,” Gogoi said.

Noted Assamese writer Indira Goswami, sought by the ULFA to mediate for peace talks with the government, said New Delhi might soon write a formal letter to Rajkhowa on the talks.

“I was made to understand that a letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for talks with ULFA is almost ready,” Goswami said by telephone from New Delhi. The Assam Government recently offered general amnesty to ULFA militants, saying no legal proceedings will be taken against any cadres who surrendered by April 30. According to an Assam government spokesman, the response to the amnesty offer was “lukewarm”.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will meet the All Assam Students Union (AASU) leadership on May 2, ahead of the Union’s meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the implementation of the Assam Accord on May 5. Gogoi was in Delhi last week and left with the replies to a set of queries the Prime Minister’s office had sought from Dispur on certain aspects of the accord. AASU, a former rebel group, had joined mainstream politics some years ago.



Governor-Gogoi cold war

At another level, the state is witnessing a sort of cold war between the Governor, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Ajai Singh, and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

According to media reports, Dispur has taken a serious note of Raj Bhavan’s proactive role with Governor Ajai Singh “meddling” in the affairs of the State Government, speaking on issues ranging from healthcare facilities to infiltration. The Government is considering lodging an “informal” complaint with the party High Command against Raj Bhavan as its proactive role has often been a cause of embarrassment for Dispur. “Since the Governor is not publicly taking up the cudgels against the Government and his actions are very much within his jurisdiction, we are not able to make a formal complaint with the Home Ministry demanding his removal,” said a senior minister in the Tarun Gogoi government.

The relations between Dispur and Raj Bhavan were severely strained after a copy of the Governor’s speech was leaked to the media. Gen. Singh had expressed his concern over the growing infiltration and Pakistan’s ISI’s influence in the State, in sharp contrast to the Government’s public stand that the influx from across the border has come down and that the ISI was not active in Assam.

In the past, too, the Governor had differed with the Government on infiltration.

The strained relations soured even more after the Governor last week summoned Health and Family Welfare Minister Bhumidhar Barman, the seniormost Cabinet Minister in Gogoi’s Government, to express his concern over the health scenario in the State and reports of growing corruption in the department.

Dispur feels that Gen. Singh, who was an appointee of the previous NDA Government, was adopting an anti-government stand like his predecessor, Lt Gen. (retd) S.K. Sinha. “Except for insurgency, Raj Bhavan’s views are different to that of Dispur in most other issues,” said a Government official.