Security forces operating under unified command have launched opeation in Tirap and Changlang districts of eastern Arunachal Pradesh which border with Myanmar to check cross border movements of terrorists from Assam and Nagaland to their bases inside Myanmar.
Top United Liberation Front of Asom leaders met at a 'secret' location in Assam to discuss the holding of an executive meeting prior to the proposed peace talks with the government but the group's elusive 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Baruah vowed to continue the struggle.
Two top United Liberation Front of Asom leaders -- 'foreign secretary' Sasha Choudhury and 'finance secretary' Chitraban Hazarika -- were granted bail on Monday by a special TADA court paving the way for their release.
The Centre on Tuesday held talks with the top leadership of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom and discussed various aspects of its 'charter of demands' which sought amendment in the Constitution to find a lasting solution to the three-decade-old insurgency problem in Assam.
The Paresh Barua faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom on Saturday denied media reports that he and several cadres were injured during a raid by Myanmarese forces on a camp of the rebels in that country. "Our leaders and cadres are safe and secure. News about our leaders being injured is not only false, but is a misinformation campaign by government agencies to mislead the people of Assam," said an aide.
Assam government on Monday announced that the wives and children of arrested United Liberation Front of Asom leaders chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah, foreign secretary Sasadhar Choudhury were under police security and would be released soon as there was no case registered against the spouses; although they were members of the women wing of the outfit.
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.
Though nobody is ready to exonerate the banned United Liberation Front of Asom, the investigation is now more focused on Islamic militants groups and fundamentalist organisations having either bases or links in the state. The police are not ignoring the ULFA angle in the course of investigation into Thursday's blasts.
In a statement, the pro-talks faction of the ULFA said: "The independence India attained 64 years back has virtually no meaning for poor farmers and rural folk in Assam who have been reeling under perennial problem of flood and erosion while the government has miserably failed to mitigate their agony"
Indian intelligence agencies said Bangladeshi security agencies have recently raided some hideouts of the United Liberation Front of Asom, prompting it's cadres to flee Bangladesh. The banned ULFA claimed on Wednesday that Chitraban Hazarika and Shashadhar Chowdhury were taken away by unidentified persons, from a house at Sector 3 of posh Uttara locality in Dhaka, where one of them was living with his family.
United Liberation Front of Asom 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa on Tuesday said he went to Pakistan when operation Bajrang was launched in Assam in 1990 but denied the group was backed by Islamic fundamentalists of that country.
He said the government continued to neglect national security.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday arrived in Guwahati for a day-long visit amid tight security arrangement.
In the run-up to its Raising Day on April 7, the anti-talk faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom is likely to indulge in subversive activities to create panic in Assam, a top police official said on Monday.
A civilian was killed in the crossfire between the police and two militants of the United Liberation Front of Asom at Sualkuchi in Kamrup district of Assam.The slain civilian was identified as Maniram Rabha, a rickshaw puller. One of the two militants who were engaged in the gunfight was apprehended. According to the police, the militants were extorting money from a business establishment in the town when they were accosted.
The Assam police no longer consider the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom led by Paresh Barua a major threat because of the depleting base of the outfit that 'doesn't have any more dedicated and committed cadres', said a highly-placed source in the state police.
Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan called upon the Central government to initiate steps to hold unconditional talks with the militant outfits in the North East, including the United Liberation Front of Asom, for the sake of peace and development of the region. "The government must open dialogue with the militant outfits, including the ULFA, at the earliest, without setting any pre-condition," Bardhan told the media in Guwahati.
After lying low for the last two years since one of its factions declared unilateral ceasefire, United Liberation Front of Asom militants attacked a tea planter and a garden employee and torched vehicles in upper Assam along Arunachal Pradesh.
The Centre said on Thursday that the peace initiatives with the banned United Liberation Front of Asom had started in the "right direction" as some very senior leaders of the outfit had backed a negotiated settlement to end the decades-old insurgency problem in Assam.
Normal life was hit in Assam on Thursday due to a day-long Assam bandh called by the banned United Liberation Front of Asom to protest against the stepped up operation by security forces against it.
A long-suspected nexus between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and insurgent groups active in India's northeast have come to light with detained former Bangladesh intelligence chief confirming Islamabad's spy agency's link to the sensational supply of arms to the United Liberation Front of Asom in 2004.
The ULFA anti-talks faction triggered a blast at Assam Pradesh Congres Committee headquarter on March 14 in which three Congress leaders were injured. But Gogoi on Friday tried to make light of the ULFA threat saying that the threat had been there since a long time.
The ruling Congress in poll-bound Assam has asked its leaders and members in the state not to panic after they were threatened by the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom. "We have told Congressmen to remain cautious. But there is nothing alarming about the threat from the anti-talks ULFA faction whose base has weakened in the state.
Leaders of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom on Thursday met Home Minister P Chidambaram as they began face-to-face unconditional talks with the Centre in an attempt to usher in peace in insurgency-hit Assam.
Eight member-delegation of the United Liberation Front of Asom led by chairman Aurobinda Rajkhowa, already in the national capital, will hold talks with the Union Home Secretary G K Pillai on Thursday after a introductory meeting with the Home Minister P Chidambaram.
Revealing the stand of the outfit in the aftermath of the arrest of most of its top leaders in the past few months, spokesperson Mithinga Daimary also said that given the (changed) political situation in the region and the world, sticking to the armed struggle could prove suicidal.
Paresh Barua, the 'commander-in-chief' of the hawkish faction of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom, has constituted a 16-member new central committee of the outfit dropping all the 'pro-talks' leader thereby formalising the vertical split in the outfit into pro-talks and anti-talks factions.
Pradip Gogoi, the vice-chairman of the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom, was released from Guwahati Central Jail on Thursday after completing an 18-year term behind bars, since his arrest in Kolkata in 1998.The militant leader said the outfit 'in principle' wanted a negotiated and peaceful solution to the 30-year-old 'India-Assam' conflict and expressed hope that the government will show sincerity. He also demanded the unconditional release of all other top leaders.
In what is being viewed as steps to facilitate talks between the government and the United Liberation Front of Asom, the banned group's 'vice chairman' and 'publicity secretary' were on Tuesday granted bail in four cases by a Terrorist and Anti-Destructive Activities (Prevention) court.
United Liberation Front of Asom raised its voice for the first time against Bangladeshi infiltration in Assam and warned that the problem will soon become a major threat to Delhi.
United Liberation Front of Asom chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who was arrested over two months ago, on Saturday said his outfit was not keen on peace talks but wanted to resolve long-drawn contentious political issues through negotiations. "I do not want peace talks, but want talks to resolve the problems facing the state," Rajkhowa said. "People will not be kept in the dark on the issue of talks and they will be the first to be taken into confidence," he said.
United Liberation Front of Asom chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa on Sunday said his outfit was ready to sit for peace talks without any preconditions for an "honourable" solution to relieve the people of Assam of their suffering.
United Liberation Front of Asom chief Arabinda Rajkhowa was released from the Guwahati Central Jail, two days after his bail plea was granted by a designated TADA court.
Stating that there are "many similarities in the Malegaon and Assam bomb blasts incidents..." Deka said the ISI and Jihadi outfits are at large in the state and the government is a "silent spectator."
Terrorism, trade and port transit issues are likely to dominate the bilateral talks as External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee becomes the first high-level Indian dignitary to visit Bangladesh since the assumption of office by Sheikh Hasina.
Amidst talk of the Assam government preparing for a dialogue with the United Liberation Front of Asom, its 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Barua on Wednesday warned of attacks on paramilitary forces and government establishments in the state on occasions such as Republic Day.
The peace talks process with top United Liberation Front of Asom leaders has started, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on Monday but ruled out that the state's sovereignty would be on the agenda. "The process for talks has started but no breakthrough achieved. However, the government is optimistic," Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati.The issue of 'sovereignity of Assam', however, would never be on the agenda for talks, he said.
Three militants belonging to the banned United Liberation Front of Asom were killed and one militant was arrested in two separate incidents of gun-battle, between the militants and joint teams of the Army and police, near the Assam-Arunachal border on Saturday.Security sources informed that two ULFA militants were killed in an encounter with security forces at Khamongaon under Kakotibari police station in Charaideo sub-division of Sivasagar district.
The separatist organisation, in an e-mail sent to the Bangladeshi news agency, appealed to the government to halt the "crackdown" against the outfit, saying the ruling Awami League of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should understand its spirit for "independence".
The government on Wednesday said the United Liberation Front of Asom's top leader Arabinda Rajkhowa was "apprehended" by the Border Security Force on the Meghalaya-Bangladesh border and later arrested by the Assam police as he was wanted in connection with several cases
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances