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Assam police denies links
with SULFA members

The Assam police, under sharp criticism from several organisations for allegedly masterminding the killings of family members of United Liberation Front of Asom militants, has gone on an offensive against a senior state cabinet minister who had charged the police with being hand in glove with surrendered ULFA or SULFA members.

Flood Control Minister and Communist Party of India MLA Promode Gogoi had, at a press conference on Monday, alleged that a section of the Assam police and SULFA were involved in the recent spate of killings of innocent members of the families of ULFA leaders.

On Tuesday, a press statement issued by the Assam police termed the charge as false and said: "The Assam police does not maintain any link whatsoever with anti-social forces."

The police department said that it does not have any nexus with the SULFA, nor does it allow any miscreant to indulge in any criminal activity. The Assam police is committed to ushering in peace in the state by putting a stop to all forms of violence and is engaged in the task with single-minded determination, the statement said and termed Gogoi's allegation as 'totally false and utterly baseless'.

Political analysts are reading a deeper meaning into Gogoi's allegation since the police department is directly under Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

Sources said Gogoi's charge was a calculated move to dare the chief minister to drop him from the cabinet because the CPI, an alliance partner of the Asom Gana Parishad led by Mahanta, has already decided to ally with the Congress in the next elections.

But Gogoi is not keen on handing over his resignation because the CPI is still not sure if the state Congress leadership wants the CPI as its alliance partner.

Gogoi, apparently, wants to play the martyr and garner sympathy from the ULFA camp, which can be used as a bargaining chip while striking a deal with the Congress, sources explained. Else, the sources added, there was no point in a minister and senior leader of Gogoi's stature making such serious allegations in public, a fit case for being dropped from the cabinet.

Meanwhile, the backlash against SULFA members further intensified on Wednesday with the All Assam Students Union and a human rights group Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti demanding a 'more credible' version from the police about the circumstances under which the family members of ULFA were killed.

In another development, residents of a locality in the heart of Guwahati city forced the police make alternative lodging arrangements for the SULFA members who had taken up residence in the area.

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