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).
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.
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.
Union Home Minster P Chidambaram on Friday said that anti-talk faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom led by its 'military chief' Paresh Baruah should be roped in for negotiations.
Paresh Barua, the fugitive 'commander-in-chief' of the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam, has been reportedly spotted by Indian security agencies at various locations in China.
The vertical split in the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom has come to the fore raising questions about the fate of the nascent peace process with the Government of India.
The anti-talks faction of the proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam on Friday criticised former Union Home Secretary G K Pillai for the comments he had made in a seminar in Guwahati a few days back and stated that the bigwigs in the bureaucracy in the 'colonial' Indian government should better do away with the habit of belittling the ULFA, the people of Assam and their 'revolution'.
'Militants are taking over the administration. Fundamentalists have been released from jail.'
A Bangladeshi court on Thursday handed down the death penalty to 14 people, including the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami and a top leader of India's separatist outfit United Liberation Front of Asom, in the country's biggest ever weapons haul case, nearly 10 years after the seizure took place.
Pradip Gogoi, arrested on April 8, 1998, is in judicial custody at the central jail in Guwahati, Anup Chetia, who was held in Dhaka on December 21, 1997, is still in detention in Bangladesh. Ideologue Buragohain is now in Tezpur jail, Sonitpur. On December 4, Rajkhowa and Raju Barua were arrested by Border Security Force men.
The Gauhati high court on Thursday acquitted all six accused in the 2004 Dhemaji bomb blast case in which 18 people, including 13 school children, were killed on Independence Day.
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.
'The Kuki-Zo are aware of this rich resource in their areas and feel the Meitei push for ST status is because of this reason'.
Have the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh and ULFA's Paresh Barua faction joined forces?
The Paresh Barua-led United Liberation Front of Assam has warned of bloodshed and violence if the state and central governments give shelter to any illegal immigrant in the state. The hardlining group has said that it would not hesitate in using arms to evict illegal migrants from neighbouring countries, who have settled down in Assam.
The United Liberation Front of Assam led by its fugitive commander in chief Paresh Barua has called upon all the indigenous ethnic groups in Assam including Bodo, Karbi, Dimasa others to join its armed revolution to liberate Assam from the clutches of the 'colonial Indian state'.
The anti-talk faction of United Liberation Front of Assam on Sunday claimed responsibility for the Paltan Bazar blast in Guwahati in which a Central Reserve Police Force personnel was killed and 12 others injured on Saturday.
In an attempt to stop it being called the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam, the faction led by Paresh Barua has changed its name to United Liberation Front of Assam (Independent) or ULFA(I).
The outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) faction (anti-talks) led by fugitive commander in chief Paresh Barua on Monday accused that Assam police of shooting down an innocent youth and injuring four others in a 'fake encounter against ULFA ultras' in Tinsukia district of Assam on Sunday.
The United Liberation Front of Asom anti-talk faction, led by 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Barua, on Saturday rejected the charter of demands submitted by the pro-talk faction to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.
The anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam led by its self-styled army chief Paresh Barua on Thursday issued a statement threatening to train its gun on 'Indians living in Assam' in retaliation to the 'atrocities perpetrated on innocent Assamese people by the COBRA Force of colonial India' in Tinsukia district of eastern Assam in the name of operation against the ULFA militants.
Surveillance has been mounted all over Assam apprehending terror strikes by the outlawed anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam led by its fugitive commander in chief Paresh Barua in and around the outfit's raising day on April 7 next.
A Bangladeshi court is set to frame charges against 52 suspects, including United Liberation Front of Asom chief Paresh Barua and top Islamist leader Matiur Rahman Nizami in the country's biggest ever arms smuggling case when 10-truck loads of arms destined for banned Indian separatist group were seized.
The Myanmar army has zeroed in on the base of anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom and other insurgent groups from the northeast. The ULFA faction led by 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Barua claimed that its base in Myanmar was under attack from the Myanmar army since Tuesday.
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.
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.
United Liberation Front of Asom 'Commander-in-Chief' Paresh Barua has appointed Dr Pranmoy Asom as the 'foreign secretary' of the anti-talk faction of the outfit.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday renewed appeal to anti-talk ULFA leader Paresh Barua and others to abjure violence and sit across the table to solve their problems through democratic means.
All four blasts occurred in a span of 10 minutes -- between 8.15 and 8.25 am, a police officer said. There has been no report of any casualty, as Republic Day being a holiday, people were mostly indoors, he said.
At least 20 key members of the proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), along with their family members, have surrendered, giving a boost to the ongoing negotiations with the militant outfit.
In an apparent attempt to placate his masters on foreign soils, Paresh Barua, the commander-in-chief of the anti-talks faction of the proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam, on Monday called upon the people of Assam and other parts of the region to resist 'colonial' Indian government's bid to set up BrahMos and Akash missiles on the soils of Nagaland and Assam as it would make them target of 'Red China' that claims territory of 'so called' Arunachal Pradesh.
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.
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.
Even as the government of India and the pro-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam are to sit for a dialogue to resolve the political problem, hardliners of the outfit, led by fugitive commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, are out to create fresh trouble in the state.
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.
It is not yet clear whether Kuldeep's release has been secured by paying ransom to the militants.
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.
With several key members of ULFA surrendering, the outfit's leader Paresh Barua who has been anti-talks, has been left isolated
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 anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom on Saturday warned of 'armed protest' against the ruling Congress for 'engineering a division in the outfit under the guise of a peace process'.A statement e-mailed to the local media by one Arunoday Dahotia on behalf of the ULFA faction led by commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, said that the ULFA would resort to 'armed protest' against the Congress for indulging in the 'politics of division'.