The banned United Liberation Front of Assom has only 100 cadres left in southern Assam, the Army has claimed. The statement comes in the wake of the surrender of 27 ULFA cadres at the Tamulpur Army base in Udalguri district of Assam. The Army claimed that the ULFA's 709 battalion, which has been very active in southern Assam, has become considerably weak in view of so many cadres surrendering.
In the latest issue of its mouthpiece Freedom, a copy of which was e-mailed to mediapersons in Guwahati on Saturday, the banned insurgent group said, "The government of India doesn't seem to be keen enough to begin talks with the ULFA to resolve the conflict between Assam and India through the process of dialogue. India is rather applying all efforts for a military solution on the demand for a sovereign Assam."
Though the run-up to the ULFA raising day this year was violence-free unlike in previous years, the outfit targetted the Kolkata-bound Kamrup Express by planting an improvised explosive devise on a bicycle in Namrup railway station in Dibrugarh district on Monday morning. The IED was detected by the 44 Field Regiment and defused, the sources said.
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.
United Liberation Front of Assam had survived despite constant pressure from the security forces in the state because of their shelters in neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The political adviser of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam and a key leader of the pro-talks faction, Bishnujyoti Buragohain alias Bhimakanta Buragohain died of a cardiac arrest at his residence at Ahom Gaon (Dhola) in Tinsukia district of Eastern Assam on Monday evening.
Saikia, kidnapped on April 21, was released near the border in Longwa village of Mon district in Nagaland after 31 days, said a top official at Assam Police headquarters.
"We did not talk about the money being paid by Tarun Gogoi to ULFA in our stories. This was mentioned in some of the local papers."
Eyewitnesses said the militants fired six to eight rounds killing the two on the spot.
Arabinda Rajkhowa hoped that the process of political dialogue for resolving the 'Assam-India conflict', which was stalled in 2006, would be resumed and completed in the new year.
'The win in Assam is likely to have a ripple effect in other north-eastern states like Manipur and Nagaland which have been reluctant to embrace the BJP in the past,' says Nitin A Gokhale, the distinguished commentator on strategic affairs, who lived and reported from Assam between 1983 and 2006.
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.
In the wake of the killing of 18 Armymen in Manipur, government plans to deploy either Indo-Tibetan Border Police or Assam Rifles for manning the 389-km-long Indo-Myanmar border in the state.
The Centre has conditioned that the dialogue will be held between mutually agreed upon emissaries of the ULFA and government of India.
According to a source in the Army, the top leader of the ULFA's 28th battalion, which is most dreaded and highly active in eastern Assam districts, was handed over to the police in Tinsukia district on Saturday.
Thousands of ULFA cadres have either surrendered or been arrested, but none of them had confessed to any arms deal with the LTTE.
A jawan of the Indian Army and a militant of the banned ULFA were killed in a fierce gun-battle that took place at Dalangghat village in north Assam late on Thursday night. A fierce encounter took place once the team of Army men came face-to-face with a three-member group of ULFA militants. One of the militants was killed and another injured while the third militant managed to flee.
The anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam on Friday announced that the surname of its leaders and cadres would be same from now and the common surname would be 'Asom'. In a statement issued to the media through e-mail, the ULFA faction said the move reflected the outfit's commitment towards expediting the evolution of the 'great Assamese nation' irrespective of caste, creed and religion.
The banned insurgent group called upon all ethnic groups in Assam to remain united behind its revolution against the 'Indian colonial rule' with an objective to liberate Assam and its people.
Believed to have led lavish lives in their heydays, pro-talks United Liberated Front of Asom leaders have now been given Rs 40 lakh by the Centre for daily expenses and to run their families.
The Border Security Force has handed over a list of 66 camps of north-east insurgents to the Border Guard Bangladesh, seeking actions against them.
A caller identifying himself as ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Barua told a local daily over telephone on Thursday night that the outfit was not behind the blast but "we cannot rule out the involvement of other groups sympathetic to our cause."
Writing under the shadow of the three-decade long insurgency in Assam, litterateur Indira Raisom Goswami wielded the pen not only to highlight the issue of violence but also took the initiative of persuading the banned United Liberation Front of Asom to come to the negotiating table.
The Bhutanese Army overran six camps housing over 3000 heavily armed militants in four districts bordering Assam.
The state chief minister and president of Assam Olympic Association, Tarun Gogoi recently gave full assurance to the top brass of Indian Olympic Association to ensure full security.
In view of the continued insurgency and sprouting of at least new insurgent groups during the year gone by, the Assam government has vowed to adopt a three-pronged strategy in the New Year to tackle the problem more effectively.
Release of top ULFA leaders figures in Centre-PCG talks
Full protection of the identity of Assamese community in their own homeland and major financial package for the rapid development of Assam are the two important issues that were highlighted by the leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom in their nearly two-hour-long familiarisation meeting with the Central government representatives headed by the Union Home Secretary G K Pillai.
The government is determined to start negotiation with the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom sans the participation of its fugitive 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Barua. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday said that dialogue with ULFA will start as soon as the outfit will take a formal decision in its general council meeting.
Haque, wanted in several cases in Assam and North Bengal was also in-charge of the outfit's foreign affairs department
Warming up for his visit to Bangladesh in the company of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on September 6 and 7, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday showered praise on Bangladesh Prime Minister Seikh Hasina and her government for being very helpful in evicting militants leaders of the northeast, including those from the United Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, which has been instrumental in containing insurgency in the state of late
ULFA has asked an RBI official to pay up.
The villagers were venting their anger after militants burnt down at least 100 abandoned houses including the residence of Sugnu Congress MLA K Ranjit at Serou in Kakching district on Saturday midnight.
An unidentified ULFA militant died while the bomb he was carrying in his bicycle exploded on the road. No one else was injured in the incident.
The outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam, anti-talks faction, on Wednesday launched personal attack on the chairman of a charitable hospital after the latter had spilled the beans before the media about an extortion demand slapped by the outfit in a demand letter addressed to him and sent to the hospital.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday informed the state assembly that the arrested chairman of United Liberation Front of Asom Arabinda Rajkhowa and foreign secretary Sashadhar Choudhury had been in Bangladesh since 1990, while finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika and deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah shifted to Bangladesh on a later date.
Though the United Liberation Front of Asom has lost almost all its key shelters in Bangladesh with the incumbent Bangladesh regime extending overwhelming cooperation to the Indian government, the outfit's base in Myanmar has remained a cause for concern and major hurdle in facilitating an all encompassing peace talks with the group.
The operation was carried out by a special commando team of Manipur police in coordination with Assam police.
The Northeast Frontier Railway authority has denied reports in a section of the media that it was in the process of closing down an old Assamese medium primary school at Hijuguri in Tinsukia district.
Caught amid a raging battle between the Myanmar Army and Kachin rebels, the anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam may be in a difficult situation.
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