| Ulfa: No surrender, no peace talks offer NEW DELHI: It was neither a surrender nor any precursor to a major peace offer. Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah, along with their families, were picked up by an alert Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) from Cox's Bazaar in Chittagong on Wednesday while trying to cross over to Myanmar, apparently to escape the crackdown on Indian insurgent groups (IIGs) in Bangladesh. The leaders went through a round of questioning by the R&AW officials in Chittagong itself, before being brought to the BSF's post at Dawki, Meghalaya, on Thursday. They were subsequently also questioned by the BSF officials, before being handed over to the Assam police on Friday. Apprehending arrest in the wake of Sheikh Hasina's government active cooperation with India on tackling insurgent groups like Ulfa and NDFB operating from Bangladeshi soil, especially after their fellow leaders Chitraban Hazarika and Shashadhar Choudhury met the same fate, Rajkhowa, his bodyguard Raju Bora, wife and two children chalked out a plan to enter Myanmar via the land border and proceed to Bangkok, from where they could fly off to either Pakistan or China. Incidentally, around 3-4 months ago, the Ulfa top boss, commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah, too, had successfully sneaked out of Bangladesh. A frequent traveller, Baruah arrived in Dhaka in July-August 2009 after going across to Philippines, Bangkok and China, only to immediately fly out to Bangkok, giving R&AW the slip. The escape did not go down well with Rajkhowa and others, who felt cheated as Baruah and family had escaped to safety even as they struggled to protect their families and cadres from the impending crackdown in Bangladesh. Careful not to let Rajkhowa and others slip out of Bangladesh, the R&AW team there mounted strict surveillance on them, trailing them all the way from Dhaka before intercepting them at Cox's Bazaar in Chittagong on Wednesday. All of 10 persons were picked up, of which three are Ulfa members: Raju Baruah, Rajkhowa and his bodyguard Raju Bora. The others include Rajkhowa's wife, son and daughter, Baruah's wife and son and Shashadhar Choudhury's wife and daughter. Rajkhowa and Raju Baruah will now face trial in the cases pending against them in Assam, which involve serious charges like waging war against the State, and will go to jail. Their families will be kept at a safe destination. With virtually the entire political leadership of Ulfa now in jail, the option of a surrender-cum-talks may be weighed. However, a breakthrough in terms of a peace offer from Ulfa may not come anytime soon as there are divergent opinions within the top brass on the contours of the peace offer, including the tricky question of "sovereignty." Meanwhile, the R&AW has decided to go after Paresh Baruah, who it believes will be shifting base between Pakistan, China and Thailand in the days to come. Not only will the agency closely track his possible travel to Dhaka to lay hands on him, but India will also pursue Bangladesh for a crackdown on Baruah's vast business interests there. While some of these ventures have been identified, his other investments across Bangladesh are still being tracked. All these will subsequently be frozen by the Bangladeshi authorities, thus shutting the tap, to some extent, on the finances that keep Baruah going. Baruah has apparently earned the disaffection of his cadres owing to his rich lifestyle that distanced him from the miseries of his cadres. Not only this, his bent towards Islam (his wife and children are devout Muslims) is seen as a sign of his shift towards Pakistan and Bangladesh, as is his decision to base himself in Bangladesh even though Ulfa is ideologically opposed to illegal immigration from Bangladesh. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Ulfa-No-surrender-no-peace-talks-offer/articleshow/5303153.cms |
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