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Police smash major ULFA network : 21 civilians arrested |
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In a major breakthrough, security forces last week smashed a major ULFA network which the militant outfit has established in the State to carry out its insurgent activities, and arrested 21 civilians from different parts of the capital city, Guwahati.
Giving details of the operation, police sources said on Dec. 28 that the residents were arrested for playing varied roles in Ulfa’s network of subversion. The list includes a second-year higher secondary student of Dispur College, Bhabesh Talukdar, a first-year BA student of the Jalukbari-based Sanskrit College, Ajit Kalita, a clerk at the K.C. Das Commerce College, Prafulla Chandra Barman, an employee of the North Eastern Regional Agri¬cultural Marketing Corporation Ltd, Haren Medhi, and a vegetable vendor, Sailendra Pathak.
A youth who worked as a waiter in the canteen of GNRC Hospi¬tals for three years, Amit Deka, was arrested for his involve¬ment in the Hengerabari blast on August 8.
All the arrests were part of a planned crackdown by the police to bust Ulfa’s extensive network in the city. “We rounded up 25 people in the past two days, of whom 22 were arrested on specific charges. The 21 people arrested were remanded in police custody,” a police officer involved in the crackdown said.
Six persons were arrested by Dispur police, three each in Panbazar, Basistha and Bharalumukh, two each in Geetanagar and Chandmari, and one each in Jalukbari and Fatasil Ambari. Two of them, Pankaj Rajbongshi and Sailendra Pathak, are militants of Ulfa’s 709 Battalion and the rest are allegedly conduits who did the outfit’s bidding in return for money.
Some of the conduits provided shelter and logistical support to Ulfa militants, identified potential targets for extortion and helped smuggle weapons and explosives into the city. “Rajbongshi is trained to handle sophisticated explosives,” the officer said.
The crackdown, led by superintendent of police (operations) Jitmol Doley, was based on information that Ulfa commander Hira Sarania was rebuilding the outfit’s network of conduits for a series of subversive plans. More arrests are expected over the next few days.
“Ulfa has changed its modus operandi to make up for the depletion of its cadre strength. The outfit’s leaders usually do not enter the city; they execute their nefarious designs though a well-oiled network of conduits and lower-ranked members,” the officer said.
Gogoi plea to call off bandh
On the political front, jolted by Congress defeats in Gujar¬at and Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has ap¬pealed to organisations who have called bandhs and boycotts during the panchayat elections to withdraw their agitation.
The appeal comes just two days before the first phase of the polls on Monday, Dec. 31.
Six communities seeking Scheduled Tribe status called for a two-day bandh on Dec. 30 and 31, while two influential students organisations, the Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association and the All Adivasi Students Association of Assam, have boycotted the polls.
The Joint Adivasi Action Committee, which on Dec. 28 called an indefinite economic blockade in Assam, Jharkhand and Greater Jharkhand from January 27, is also supporting the poll boycott.
Gogoi’s appeal on Dec. 29 is being seen as a last-ditch attempt by Dispur to get the agitation programmes withdrawn as they have the potential to hamper the prospects of the ruling Congress. So far, the government was giving the impression that it was not bothered by the bandhs and boycott.
“With the Congress faring poorly in Gujarat and Himachal, the party has to take all possible steps to ensure that it does well at the hustings. Losing the panchayat polls will have an adverse impact on the party’s prospects in the next Lok Sabha polls,” a senior party leader admitted.
With the All Koch-Rajbongshi Students Union (Biswajit Rai) temporarily withdrawing its 1000-hour Assam and North Bengal bandh called from January 1, Dispur is hoping that an open appeal may cut ice with the others as well.
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