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North East: ULFA insurgency in Assam : Army warns against truce

	April 23, 2007

The Army has cautioned the Assam Government against announcing a truce with the ULFA, reminding it of the fallout when the government had extended the olive branch to the outfit last year.



“My only advice will be not to forget what had happened in August last year (when the government had announced a unilateral ceasefire with the outfit). Adequate preventive measures should be taken to ensure that the group does not utilise any future cessation of hostilities to revamp, rejuvenate and regroup itself,” 4 Corps General Officer Commanding (GOC) Lt Gen. R.K. Chhabra said .



The outfit had massacred several civilians in Upper Assam in January after regrouping during the truce period. Gen. Chhabra’s warning has come at a time when several groups have demanded resumption of peace efforts along with release of jailed ULFA leaders and information on the whereabouts of some missing leaders of the outfit.



Addressing mediapersons in Guwahati on April 20, Gen. Chhabra also told the government not to think of ULFA as a group of revolutionaries. He said the mass killings by the banned outfit have completed the transition of the “so-called freedom fighters” into a “pure terrorist organisation”.



Gen. Chhabra was in Guwahati to attend a meeting of the unified command, which, however, did not take place owing to “administrative reasons”, as an Army spokesperson put it.



Gen. Chhabra dubbed the ongoing hungerstrike by the wives of missing ULFA militants as a “diversionary strategy” to deflect public attention from its misdeeds.



The general said ULFA was trying to “divert” public attention from the “main cause and malaise of violence and extortion” through such an agitation. He added that the outfit has resorted to such an “evil design”, in the wake of the reverses it suffered since January this year, to “hoodwink” the people.



The officer reiterated that ULFA was being controlled by ISI agents, on whose behalf the outfit was waging a jehadi war. He confirmed that the outfit was procuring improvised explosive devices from the Pakistani intelligence agency.



Gen. Chhabra was full of praise for Myanmar. He said Yangon was “as much concerned as we” are about the problem of insurgency confronting India and was fully co-operating in neutralising the problem. “They are taking action from time to time and are trying to push them (militants taking shelter there) back to our country.”



The head of the unified command structure further pointed out that ULFA activities have escalated in the four districts of Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri and Darrang, bordering Bhutan. He said though there was no report of the outfit setting up any permanent base in the Himalayan kingdom, it was possible that its cadre were taking shelter there.





Chain of blockades and bandhs from today



A group of social organisations has threatened to virtually lay siege to the state with a string of agitation programmes from today (April 23) if the fasting wives’ demands were not met within another 48 hours.



The Peoples Committee for Peace Initiative in Assam (PCPIA), a pressure group at the forefront of the campaign for revival of the peace process with ULFA, is spearheading the agitation programme.



PCPIA chief co-ordinator Lachit Bordoloi told newsperons over phone that the group had no option left but to take some hard decisions to convey to the powers-that-be that they would go to any length to realise the dream of lasting peace.



“After our experience of the past month, we have been left with no option but to intensify our agitation. The mode of protests could entail anything from highway blockades to rail rokos (stopping of trains) and state-wide bandhs. These are likely to begin from Monday. We know a lot of inconvenience will be caused, but we really have no option. If necessary, we are ready to give our blood to stop the ongoing bloodshed and end this period of uncertainty and tension,” Bordoloi added.



The pressure group, in particular, is very upset over the government’s indifference towards its demand to revive the peace process and make public information about ULFA leaders who went missing in the Bhutan operations of 2003.



It mentioned that even though four weeks had passed, Dispur has not yet responded to the fast-unto-death by wives of these missing ULFA leaders. The protesting wives are at present at Gauhati Medical College Hospital. Their condition is said to be deteriorating.





Delhi least bothered



Dispur has pleaded before PCPIA members its helplessness to revive the peace process while Delhi appeared least bothered. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during his talk of peace and development, skirted the issue. Sources in Dispur said the government was trying to find a way out to revive the peace process but would not tolerate any kind of disturbance.