Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday called upon the Central government to involve ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia in the on-going peace talks.
A delegation of United Liberation Front of Asom leaders, led by its 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, days after the group sat for unconditional talks with the government.
The militant group accused RAW of deliberately linking its name to fundamentalists and communal groups to tarnish its image in front of the international community.
Three militants of the outlawed ULFA (Independent) were killed in a blast that took place at the residence of a farmer in a remote village near the Assam-Meghalaya boundary on Friday morning.
ULFA's self-styled commander-in-chief Paresh Barua on Saturday denied any split in the outfit and said there was no confusion in the minds of the ULFA cadres who want "sovereignty" for Assam to be discussed in any dialogue.
The attack on the army convoy in Goalpara was the handiwork of the anti-talk faction of ULFA, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.
Paresh Barua, heading the United Liberation Front of Asom's anti-talk faction, on Wednesday rejected the unilateral ceasefire declared by Arabindo Rajkhowa-led group.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's 'mission 84' (winning 84 out of 126 assembly seats in Assam in 2016 polls) has run into a hurdle put up by the United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent. The militant outfit has threatened to use force to stymie all activities of the saffron party in Assam after January 10, 2015.
Nipul Bora, also known as Bijoy Lahon alias Pulin Hazarika, was in charge of the ULFA's general headquarters in Bhutan.
The explosion took place at a construction material dump in the Pan Bazar area when the four passersby, including a woman, were injured around 11.45 am, the sources said.
The banned Assam-based militant outfit ULFA on Wednesday rejected Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's offer for peace talks echoing their chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa's stand "no peace talks with ULFA leaders in jail".
A top United Liberation Front of Asom insurgent was killed on Friday in an encounter with the army in upper Assam's Tinsukia district along the Arunachal Pradesh border and ULFA accused the the pro-talk outfit for the killing.
Army sources informed that the banned ULFA used to procure sophisticated arms from an assembling unit at Chrachandpur district in Manipur run by Kuki Revolutionary Army.
The ULFA chairman filed the bail petitions following release of five senior ULFA leaders on bail from jail in the last six months that has raised hopes for beginning of a dialogue with the outfit.
Three ULFA militants were killed and a female cadre of the outfit was arrested by the security forces in two separate operations in Assam. The security forces also recovered substantial amount of arms and ammunition from slain militants in both the incidents.
In a swift joint operation, personnel from the Army and Meghalaya police nabbed six militants belonging to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in the state on Wednesday afternoon.
With the fast-unto-death entering the 9th day on Thursday, the health of the agitating women was showing signs of deterioration as informed by doctors attending them.
With a batch of key leaders of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom deserting the outfit's shelters in Bangladesh, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday raised hopes for starting a dialogue with the outfit soon while terming the 'desertion' of ranks by the ULFA men a 'good sign' for the efforts to restore peace in the state.
The slain person, who was shot dead at his residence, was a former member of the banned outfit and was working closely with security forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations.
The Assam government has hailed the decision of the 'A' and 'C' companies of the 28 th battalion of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom to call a unilateral truce. The 28th battalion is considered the most potent force of the banned ULFA.
Chetia was deported to India last week after being jailed in Bangladesh for 18 years.
United Liberation Front of Asom's 'foreign Secretary' Sashadhar Choudhury, who was released from the Guwahati Central Jail on bail, on Tuesday expressed hope that talks with the government would be held soon for a peaceful solution to the ULFA-government conflict. Talking to waiting mediapersons outside the jail, Choudhury said the discussions, which would be held soon in a peaceful environment, would ultimately solve the ULFA problem.
Fourteen hardcore militants belonging to the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom on Thursday gave up arms and surrendered, while an abducted junior engineer of Assam government was set free by militants.
The going has not been too smooth for the United Liberation Front of Asom, the violent separatist outfit that has, for decades, unleashed a reign of terror and mayhem in the north-eastern state.
the security sources said the banned group's leadership had shifted many of its cadre based in eastern Assam areas to its camps inside Myanmar.
The outfit's vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi said that the outfit had already announced that it would boycott the polls and maintain a neutral stand.
The letter asked the Centre not to approach them directly for any negotiation until the three conditions were met.
United Liberation Front of Asom has been showing a growing propensity to work with Islamist militant groups like Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami in the north-east and has begun to outsource operations, including suicide attacks, a leading US think tank said.
The Assam police killed a hardcore militant of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam and arrested another militant in two separate operations in eastern Assam on Tuesday.
Rajkhowa hoped the ULFA's decision would bring about a atmosphere conducive to talks with the government.
The Centre is treading cautiously on holding deliberations with the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom as it does not want to repeat the 1992 experience when five leaders of the rebel group released for talks availed the opportunity to go underground.
The pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) led by its chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa on Wednesday came down heavily on fugitive Paresh Barua, the leader of the outfit's anti-talks faction for trying to make light the ongoing peace talks between Indian government and the ULFA (Rajkhowa faction).
In a statement issued to the media in Guwahati, chairman of the banned ULFA, Arabinda Rakhowa said: 'A baseless and misleading rumour has been spread among the people of Assam about holding of dialogue among the ULFA, colonial Indian government and the Assam government. We hereby appeal to the people of Assam not to get confused by this rumour till we clarify our stand on holding of such dialogue.'
Assam has been put on a general security alert in view of the threat by the anti-talk faction of ULFA to engage in subversive activities in the run-up to Independence Day celebrations.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday said there are positive signals from the United Liberation Front of Asom leadership for peace talks except its elusive 'military chief' Paresh Barua.
In a statement e-mailed to the media by the central publicity wing of the ULFA, the outfit has accused its breakaway faction of hatching a conspiracy against the ULFA leadership in the name of mobilizing public opinion for unconditional talks between the ULFA top-brass and the Indian government.
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