ULFA: New Mission, Old Vision At a time when it looked as if winds of change were blowing in Assam, comes a startling development that puts the relationship between the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the government in perspective. The military wing of the outfit has threatened to prove that the outfit's striking capacity is far from finished. Has New Delhi made a mistake by sidelining Paresh Barua, asks Ratnadip Choudhury
Just when media excitement was focused on ULFA's proposed Executive Council meeting, where released political leaders were to pass a resolution for holding peace talks with the government, an email photograph released by the outfit's Central Publicity wing to the press suddenly raises serious concerns. The photograph sent by the head of Publicity Wing of ULFA, Arunoday Duhotia showing the armed cadres in full military colours, gives lie to the claim that all is well in the way of the talks. On the contrary, ULFA claims that its fight is not over yet. As the email had the media confused about its intentions, the political leadership of ULFA led by Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa held a 'secret' meeting of the outfit's Executive Council to clear the deck for the talks. This development clearly suggests what TEHELKA has been saying all along — ULFA is a divided house.
The rebel leaders, who are on bail, are pushing forward the agenda of peace talks without any precondition. Apart from chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, the other executive council members in favour of the talks are ULFA ideologue Bhimkanta Buragohain, vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi, deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah, foreign secretary Sashadhar Choudhury, finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika, cultural secretary Pranati Deka and publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary. Some commanders of the armed wing have also joined them. The anti-talk faction is led by commander-in-chief Paresh Barua and his two close aides, Jibon Moran and Bijoy Das, alias Bijoy Chinese. Barua has always maintained that he is ready for talks only if 'Assam's sovereignty' is made an agenda. New Delhi has not agreed.
The released photograph reiterates his stand: "We understand that there are rumours that ULFA is finished. Therefore, we have released this photo to reassure the people of Assam that the struggle for Assam's sovereignty will continue irrespective of what may happen. We are not against talks but not at the cost of the interest of the people of Assam. ULFA will continue its struggle until it attains Assam's independence. Now it's a new mission with an old vision. We have not taken up arms to be defeated. If we are alive we will certainly attain sovereignty, if we die, it will be a martyrs death. We urge the people of Assam to keep faith in our struggle." The massage from Barua is loud and clear. The photograph has also left the intelligence apparatus baffled. Until now, the Union home ministry in general, and Home Secretary GK Pillai in particular, had been basking in the glory of the success of bringing several Northeast insurgent outfits to the talking table. That approach might just have to be revisited. It is also quite clear that the formula devised by the MHA, code named 'Minus One', to isolate Paresh Barua has not worked. ULFA may strike back at any moment.
Highly placed intelligence sources have confirmed that the photograph is of the ULFA. They claim that the man seated in the middle is Paresh Barua. The man on his left with a long moustache is Jibon Moran and the man on his right with Mongoloid features is Bijoy Das. TEHELKA had earlier reported that ULFA is still recruiting and Barua was lying low, waiting to strike back.
Even before Bangladesh started the crackdown against Indian insurgents inside its territory, there were at least three meetings that the ULFA commander-in-chief, Manipur's Peoples' Liberation Army (PLA) chairman Irengbam Bhorot and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) chairman Ranjit Debbarma had with senior Chinese military intelligence officials. That was the time when China had started resenting India's growing strategic alliance with US. According to sources within the outfit, Barua used the situation to his advantage and sent some cadres of ULFA and PLA to China's Yunnan province for training.
Barua, according to Dhaka-based sources, flew from Dhaka to Kumming in Yunnan and had two meetings with Chinese military intelligence officials between 13 and 17 February 2009. On 23 May 2009, he went from Bangkok to Beijing and was in the Chinese capital for nearly a week. The Chinese military intelligence directorate assured him of all help in the wake of a large-scale crackdown in Bangladesh. Barua, in turn, promised to give the Chinese the lion's share of the Indian arms market. Sources claim it was through Barua that the CPI (Maoists) got Chinese-made weapons.
Sources added that the final meeting took place in a intelligence branch office at House No 21, North Andeli Street, Beijing. ULFA insiders have confirmed with TEHELKA that a batch of 80 odd ULFA and PLA rebels had left for China in three batches in June 2009. They were undergoing training in Tinsum in Yunnan. During this time, the ULFA was suffering huge setbacks due to massive crackdown inside Bangladesh.
The jailed leadership showed a keen desire for holding peace talks, a move seen by many experts as an 'image makeover' effort from the Congress ahead of crucial Assembly polls in Assam. Barua suffered reverses when some of his trusted commanders change sides. Unsure of where the loyalties of the top brass lay, he decided to control the newly trained cadres on his own. The China-trained cadres have apparently returned in November 2010 and have been camping at a place that ULFA shares with the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) in the Sagiang province of Myanmar.
Although ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has formally written on behalf of the outfit for holding peace talks, this might be of little help if violence is renewed.
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main48.asp?filename=Ws190111ASSAM.asp |
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