As Assam celebrated Rongali Bihu (spring festival) Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi took the opportunity to make a renewed appeal to armed insurgents groups still at large to come forward for dialogue with the government.
Frustrated at security forces' increasing surveillance on their phone calls, the anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam on Saturday warned them of carrying out an attack on mobile phone towers to protest against "security forces' attempt to prevent the leaders and cadres of the ULFA to keep in touch with people in Assam's society". The ULFA faction condemned the "inhuman treatment and harassment meted out to innocent people.
The anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam on Monday led 10 other militant groups based in the Northeast to call for boycott of Republic Day celebrations in the region and a general strike during 1.00 am to 5.30 pm to protest 'India's unrelenting colonial occupation of the region with the sole objective of exploiting its rich natural resources by gagging to people's voice for liberation from its clutches."
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."
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the PCG must make its stand clear on the issue of sovereignty. "The government wants to know the views of the PCG whether they are in favour of a sovereign Assam. If it is, what is the point in talking about holding discussions and allowing things to prolong?"
Security forces have mounted vigil along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary to prevent United Liberation Front of Asom militants' anti-talks faction from sneaking into Assam through its eastern district of Tinsukia.
ULFA's fugitive chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa, stated, "We call upon the entire people of our region to boycott and prevent the celebration, in any manner, of India's Independence Day in our Region on 15 August 2008 to consolidate our solidarity in the struggle for liberation from Indian colonial occupation. On this day, a general strike shall be observed throughout the Region from 01:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Those who have studied Assam elections say the high turnout has the Congress worried.
The Border Security Force has handed over the two top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Assam, who were picked up from the Indo-Bangla border in Tripura, to the Assam police, which has begun interrogating them.
Manipur witness more violence on Tuesday when unidentified armed men, suspected to be cadres of banned terror groups, attacked people from the tribal community in the morning killing three of them in Kangpokpi district, officials said.
Maoist activities in Assam are likely to receive the support of the so-called anti-talks faction of the ULFA and if not nipped in the bud will spread to other states of the Northeast with support from other insurgent groups and international powers, warns Col Anil Bhat (Retd).
In its effort to bring lasting peace in Assam, the government on Saturday signed an agreement with the banned United Liberation Front of Asom to end violence in the troubled northeastern state and set the ball rolling for peace talks.
The United Liberation Front of Assam (anti-talks has registered its strong opposition to the proposed exchange of adversely possessed land between India and Bangladesh during the visit of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to Dhaka on September 6-7, and warned Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi against taking a 'soft stand' on the issue.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday called upon Paresh Barua, the fugitive commander-in-chief of the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom, to join the ongoing peace process with his colleagues in the militant outfit, led by 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa. Addressing the people of Assam on Independence Day in Guwahati, Gogoi said his government was sympathetic towards the misguided youth of the state in the ranks of various insurgent groups.
Top United Liberation Front of Asom leaders on Friday met Home Minister P Chidambaram and presented the outfit's 'charter of demands', setting the ball rolling for peace talks with the government to bring about a lasting solution to Assam's three-decade old insurgency problem.
The pro-talks faction of United Liberation Front of Assam on Saturday reacted sharply to the lynching of one of its members Bijoy Das at Bidyapara in Goalpara district of Assam on Friday and alleged hands of illegal migrant settlers from Bangladesh in the murder.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday said that like all other insurgent groups in truce with the government, the banned United Liberation Front of Assam too would have to enter into a formal agreement for suspension of operation and surrender weapons before starting dialogue with the government of India.
The 53-year-old, whose real name is Rajib Rajkonwar, was one of the founder leaders of the ULFA along with commander in chief Paresh Baruah. The ULFA was formed on April 7, 1979 to lead armed struggle to 'free Assam from the clutches of colonial Indian rule'.
Paresh Baruah's shadow continues to loom large in Assam's political landscape.
The chairman of the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom Arabinda Rajkhowa on Tuesday said that the outfit was hopeful that the assurance of an 'honourable negotiated solution' to all the burning problems of Assam as given by 'the leadership of the world's largest democracy to the people of a strife-torn Assam ' would be kept in true spirit.
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.
Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigmey Thinley on Monday said there were no militants from Assam in the Himalayan country and reiterated Bhutan's commitment to prevent any anti-Indian activities on its soil.During a brief stop-over at the Guwahati International Airport on his way to Thimphu, Thinley told reporters that as on date, there was no presence of any militant from the banned United Liberation Front of Assam or National Democratic Front of Bodoland in Bhutan.
'The loose use of words like foreigner or Bangladeshis obscures the fact that the post-Partition migration to Assam has been of both Hindus and Muslims.'
The next round of dialogue between the officials of the Indian government and the United Liberation Front of Assam faction led by its 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa will be held in New Delhi on April 9 before Rangali Bihu, according to sources.
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.
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.
A security source said it was part of ULFA's strategy to mount pressure on the Army, which has put ULFA strongholds in Tinsukia district and areas adjoining the Arunachal Pradesh border under strict surveillance.
In a statement e-mailed to the media, ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa said the people of Assam should be prepared to carry out more difficult agitational programmes in future if the 'Indian occupational force' continued with its repressive design to annihilate people's effort for a peaceful political solution to the conflict.
Jagat had joined the militant organisation in 1999 and was involved in several extremist operations in Upper Assam, besides receiving training as a paramedic.
The boycott is being lifted following appeals by eminent sports persons and sports lovers of Assam, Rajkhowa said in a statement that was e-mailed to the media.
Following a meeting of the group's leaders, a spokesman of the outfit informed that it was unanimously decided in the meeting, which was attended by all the top leaders of the pro-talks faction, that no leader or cadre of the outfit get involved with the forthcoming assembly election in the state and the message has been sent to all the members of the outfit through 'proper channels'.
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.
The proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam, which is now reeling under sustained and intensified counter-insurgency operation by the Army -- especially in Eastern Assam areas and the two hill districts of the state -- has alleged that the government of India was interested in crushing the 'ULFA revolution' by using force and not at all interested in a political solution to "Assam-India" conflict.
Interacting with a group of Assamese students studying in the national capital, ULFA 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa said the existing political setup poses a threat to Assam and its people that led to the formation of the group and its 31 years of insurgency movement.
Quoting data collected from various sources, officials closely monitoring the situation here said that .303 rifles, Medium Machine Guns (MMG) and AK assault rifles, carbines, Insas Light Machine Guns (LMG), Insas rifles, M-16 and MP5 rifles were reported to be missing from the armouries of the police in May.
Borsaikia, commander of a company of the 28th battalion of the outfit, was one of the most-wanted ULFA leaders.
The army intensified operations against the militant group within Assam and the Manabhum reserve forest area in Arunachal Pradesh bordering eastern Assam's Tinsukia district.
'The violence that shook Assam was a direct outcome of the state's ethnic problem... The tension that created a rift between the Bodos and the non-Bodos for years found a blood-spattered expression.' Former NSG chief Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary, the Trinamool Congress candidate from Kokrajhar, speaks to Indrani Roy/Rediff.com about last week's carnage in Assam.
The fugitive commander-in-chief of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam Paresh Baruah has claimed "moral victory" after the outfit's chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and military spokesman Raju Baruah said they had not surrendered and there was no possibility of talks with "colonial Indian government" if the issue of "freedom and sovereignty of Assam" is not on the agenda.
The location of United Liberation Front of Asom chief Arabinda Rajkhowa and the outfit's military deputy-in-chief Raju Barua besides eight others apprehended by the Assam police is being kept a closely guarded secret.
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