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134 ULFA militants surrender

Mrinal Talukdar in Baihata Chariali (Assam)

At least 134 United Liberation Front of Asom and Bodo Liberation Tiger militants surrendered before the public here today.

There was nothing official about it. There were no dignitaries present -- neither the governor, the chief minister or somebody from the army top brass. The few security personnel around looked on from a distance.

Top militants who joined the mainstream included the ULFA western region commander Binoy Rava. There were also other leaders such as Parag Dhar Chaliha and Bidyut Karji. A function was organised in this small mofussil town near Guwahati by the Coordination Committee of Former ULFA Members. An ambulance was also donated by the former militants.

There was spontaneous applause from the audience as the militants introduced themselves before denouncing violence.

This is the first time since the surrender process began way back in 1993 that the militants joined the mainstream in this manner. But there was no surrender of weapons.

Later talking to UNI, one of the leaders of the Coordination Committee of Former ULFA Members, Sunil Nath, said that they would take more such initiatives to make the militants surrender on their own.

''We were expecting around ten to 15 guys in the morning. But the ultimate figure was beyond our imagination,'' he said.

Some of the ULFA cadres who joined the mainstream said they did not want to surrender before the authorities. ''We have realised that the path [of violence] is wrong and have returned to public life and the people have also accepted us,'' said Parag Dhar Chaliha, who led the group.

''We would continue to strive for the cherished goal. But the path of violence was wrong,'' said another ULFA leader who was till this morning an influential member of the front's political wing.

However today's attraction was Binoy Rava. The commander of the ULFA's western zone and a veteran of the 1986 batch, he admitted he had been awarded the death penalty by the ULFA because of his opposition to some of their activities.

Nath later said that these militants would go through the formal process of joining the mainstream with the police at the local level but till the process was completed and they were officially recognised as former ULFA members, they would be looked after by the Coordination Committee.

Among the 134 militants, there were 117 ULFA members and 17 from the BLT. They were from Darrang, Goalpara and Kamrup districts.

UNI

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