Bangladesh ready to tackle any ULFA threat: Sahara
The home minister, Sahara Khatun, on Monday said Bangladesh is ready to tackle any threats from Indian separatist organization, United Liberation Front of Assam.
'If they carry out any attack, we're ready to tackle that,' the minister told reporters after attending a function in the city.
Sahara told this when some reporters referred to press reports quoting the ULFA chief, Arabinda Rajkhowa, as having remarked, 'Bangladesh has 100 per cent betrayed with me.'
Reporters also drew the attention of the home minister that the deputy commander-in-chief of ULFA, Raju Barua, had told Indian media that betrayer Bangladesh would not be spared.
Sahara Khatun said that she did not know that ULFA had threatened Bangladesh.
When reporters asked Sahara if the prime minister's scheduled visit to India later this month had been postponed due to any threat from ULFA, the home minister said, 'I don't yet know that the PM's visit to India has been cancelled.'
On December 5, 2009, the chairman and the deputy commander-in-chief of ULFA fell into Indian custody.
According to Sify News of India, Rajkhowa was arrested in Bangladesh and handed over to Indian authorities along Tripura border last week.
Earlier on Friday, Sahara Khatun denied the arrest in Bangladesh of Arabinda, as reported in the Indian media.
ULFA is a separatist group in the Indian state of Assam-one of many other such groups in North-East India-seeking to establish a sovereign Assam through an armed struggle.
The Indian government banned the organization in 1990 and classified it as a terrorist group, while the US State Department lists it under 'other groups of concern.'
In the past two decades, some 10,000 people have died in the clashes between the rebels and the Indian government. http://www.newagebd.com/2009/dec/08/front.html UPDATES
So it appears the Bangladeshi authorities under the present Awami League government has been showing immense generosities to India since their beginning.
* A group of protesters where beaten mercilessly when they appeared in a procession demanding expel of the former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty in September 2009.
* A pair of Bangladeshi ministers (Dr. Dipu Moni, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Abul Hossain, Minister of Communication) was keeping mum when this Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty added the adjective "so called intellectuals" behind a panel of academics from University of Dhaka, Jagangirnagar University, University of Rajshahi and Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in August 2009. * The Minister of Water Resources Ramesh Chandra Sen found it fun to tell in July 2009 Bangladesh as a smaller neighbor can easily accept some damage to maintain a friendship with the bigger neighbor India.
* The Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Dipu Moni was shy to spare a word when an Indian journalist called Bangladesh "a buffer state" in last February.
Now a group of people were handed over to India without the confirmation of their being criminals and even without any mutual extradition treaty just to show how generous the present regime is to India. Reading the entire pile of emotional stories on the generosity of a 162 million's nation to a 1200 million's nation, we can expect the generosity from our Minister of Interior Adv. Sahara Khatun to answer the following question that, For what on earth she denied that Rajkhowa was arrested in Bangladesh? And if she was telling the truth, why she is this ultra-generous to put not a single protest against any of the Indian medias those apparently made her contend for being provider of the most viciously flawed information?..................Read More
The Ulfa leadership has been flushed out from Bangladesh in a very unorthodox manner. The legal deficiencies of the action are glaring. But coming as it did on the eve of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's official visit to India from December 19-22, this may have significant implications and ramifications for the bilateral relations between the two countries. The Hasina government has indicated it is ready to address India's main concern that Bangladesh is a safe haven for secessionist/independence movements in India's Seven Sisters. Now, it is the turn of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government in New Delhi to reciprocate the gesture. This can be done by removing the trust deficiency in the bilateral relations -- that India won't seek to dominate Bangladesh, economically and geopolitically. The two governments have taken long and elaborate preparations for creating the right atmosphere for the Hasina-Manmohan Singh summit talks. Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni and her Indian counterpart, S.M. Krishna, have prepared in their meeting, held in New Delhi on September 09, an excellent background of the forthcoming prime ministerial-level meeting. In the effusive language of the joint press statement issued on September 10 on the conclusion of Dipu Moni's visit to India, "recent elections have provided both countries with a historical opportunity to take India-Bangladesh relations to greater heights." Both Dhaka and New Delhi are upbeat about the outcome of the summit. But rhetoric is no substitute for diplomatic negotiations. It will be extremely naïve to expect that all the outstanding problems between the two countries will be solved in one meeting or that Manmohan Singh, in an extravagant display of philanthropy, will give Hasina as a gift all what she asks from India in the interest of Bangladesh...................Read More
Two facts are significant in Rajkhowa's arrest. First, India does not have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh. Second, there was no formal request for his extradition through proper channels, which begins with a competent court issuing letter rogatory to its counterpart in the foreign country for extradition of the accused for trial in offences committed in India. In the absence of these two, the arrest of Rajkhowa and his aides clearly shows that they were detained by Bangladeshi authorities and then pushed across to India at a mutually agreed place for the BSF to take them into custody. This is substantiated by Rajkhowa's repeated assertions before media prior to being produced before the CJM that he had not surrendered...........................Read MoreThe Centre has offered the ULFA talks on the condition that it renounces violence and the goal of independence. But Rajkhowa has responded with some tough words. He has ruled out giving up the demand for independence and has said he will not engage in dialogue as a prisoner. But this is no reason for despair. It is unrealistic to expect an insurgent leader to renounce his organisation's long-standing goals even before talks begin. It is through talks that he can be persuaded to water-down his objectives. There are lessons that the Centre can draw from its experience with negotiating with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak Muivah (NSCN-IM) group. The NSCN-IM was not expected to abjure its sovereignty goal; the talks were unconditional. This flexibility paved the way for talks and has enabled the survival of the ceasefire and the peace process with the NSCN-IM. A similar flexibility will bring ULFA into the mainstream. There is no doubt that ULFA's independence goal is against the Indian Constitution. But it is only through talks that its leaders and cadres can be convinced to give up that goal. Unconditional talks will bring ULFA to the table. A bit of patience and flexibility could prove rewarding........................Read MoreIf ground situation of the state is any indicator, the arrest of Ulfa chairman Arbinda Rajkhowa has turned out to be a blessing for the outfit instead of being a blow to the outfit.The way the state government handled the arrest of Ulfa leaders that followed a high drama and delay in producing them in the court, it helped the Ulfa sympathisers in hyping up the situation thereby creating a sympathy wave for the most-wanted rebel leaders across the state. The surrender and subsequent arrest drama has also initiated a debate in a section of the local media portraying Ulfa chairman as a "freedom fighter" who should be granted amnesty. Within a few hours of Ulfa leaders' production in the court, the situation has taken such a turn in the state that main opposition Asom Gana Parishad accused the ruling Congress government of indulging in manoeuvres to keep the Ulfa issue alive........................Read More
Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa's brother wants to take custody of his wife Kaveri Kachari and two children so that their 97-year-old mother Damayanti Rajkonwari could meet them. Rajkhowa's elder brother Ajay Rajkonwar told reporters here today that the Ulfa chairman's first question to him at the court yesterday was about their mother. "After I told him that she was bed-ridden, he urged me to take his wife and two children to our mother so that she could see them for the first time," Rajkonwar said. "We are ready to take custody of Kaveri and the two children -- 13-year-old daughter and five-year old son -- and take them to our mother at Lakwa in Sibsagar," he added. "If Kaveri wants to stay back for the outfit's organisational work, we have nothing to say," ..........................Read More
In the backdrop of the arrest of ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and other top ranking officers including Deputy Commander-in-Chief Raju Baruah, the proscribed Revolutionary People's Front (RPF) has conveyed solidarity to the ULFA leadership. A press release issued by the outfit's department of publicity chief GM Changjou pledged that the RPF would extend whatever help needed to overcame the present crisis of ULFA. The arrest of Rajkhowa and other top leaders of ULFA was a major setback in the liberation movement of not only Assam but for the 'region' as a whole. Even if the Chairman is in the hands of the Government of India, the ULFA would certainly continue their struggle further and bring out a clear vision of their national liberation movement to the general mass of Assam, the RPF exuded. While strongly condemning the dirty conspiracy of India to nab a few top ranking leaders including Rajkhowa, the RPF called upon revolutionary leaders of the region to be more cautious while dealing with Indian rulers so as not to fall in their trap. The outfit hailed the correct political stand of Arabinda Rajkhowa and his comrade Raju Baruah never to surrender to Indian Govt as well as their firm stand for sovereignty of Assam..............Read More
The children of Ulfa chairman Aravinda Rajkhowa, who supposedly fought all his life for establishing an identity for his people, do not even know that they are Assamese. Born in Bangladesh, they are not even aware that their father is a dreaded rebel leader wanted in India for terror activities. They think he is a businessman, a little different, though. The story is similar when it comes to the children of other two leaders of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom, who officially surrendered to the Indian authorities in Meghalaya last Friday along with Rajkhowa — deputy commander-in-chief Raju Barua and 'foreign secretary' Sashadhar Choudhury. Rajkhowa's children know him by his 'Bangladeshi identity' — Mijanur Rahman Choudhury. Barua's daughter knows her father as Anees Ahmed, while Shishirkana thinks her father Sashadhar Choudhury is actually Rafiqul Islam. The children, however, will have to unravel many deceptions. For, the person who is now known as Aravinda Rajkhowa was Rajib Rajkonwar in his earlier life, while Hitesh Kalita turned into Raju Barua and Palash Phukan became Raja Bora. While the three leaders surrendered, they had three women and four children with them. The women are Rajkhowa's wife and head of Ulfa's women's wing Kaveri Kachari (42), 'foreign secretary' Choudhury's wife Runima Chetia (41) and Raju Barua's wife Nirola Neog (30). The wives and the children — Rajkhowa's daughter Khonsang Bohagi (13) and son Gadadhar (10), Choudhury's daughter Shishirkana (8) and Barua's daughter Pragati (10) —are being kept in a guesthouse of the Assam Police here. "The children know each other and are used to being called by their Muslim names," said Inspector General of Police (Special Branch) Khagen Sarma, "They speak Bengali and are not aware that they are Assamese. They are also not aware they are Hindus." "The children are convinced they are Bangladeshis................Read More
Harin Mahanta, prominent columnist and advocate said that, it is the demand of all that the common people of Assam to stop the Bangladeshi immigration to Assam soil, because in fact the Bangladeshi issue is more serious than ULFA for the survival of Assamese community. The Central Government should sign a treaty with the Bangladesh Government in the forthcoming visit of the Bangladesh Prime Minister to India, which would be better than the fencing construction drama along the border. He however drawing a comparison between the two issues said that, both issues are different because the Centre has given more importance on the arrest of ULFA leaders than the immigration to Assam due to some mysterious reasons.................Read More
India's pressure on the new Bangladesh regime, however, has started paying dividends, with Paresh Barua quietly leaving that country for Myanmar, while two leaders, "foreign secretary" Sasha Choudhury and "finance secretary" Chitraban Hazarika were arrested last month. The arrest of Rajkhowa and deputy C-in-C Rahu Barua this month is however the biggest success. But Rajkhowa's arrest and his subsequent declaration that he had not surrendered and would continue to fight for "sovereignty" has for the time being proved to be a boon for the outfit on two aspects. Rajkhowa almost became a hero when people saw him live on television screens, stating outside the court on Saturday that he had not surrendered, while Barua's immediate reposing faith on the chairman has proved there was no split in the ULFA. But there is also speculation that Rajkhowa's arrest has strengthened Barua's hand, with reports that he was trying to restructure the group by contacting middle-level leaders in the armed wing both in and out of India. The presence of over 100 youth in the court campus, who raised pro-ULFA slogans on Saturday, has also caused consternation in security circles, especially because of the fact that the court premises is a high-security zone........................Read More |
