Author: A Staff Reporter
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: June 12, 2003
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030612/asp/frontpage/story_2060481.asp
Several NGOs based in Assam have
come under the scanner with police recovering sheaves of Ulfa documents
containing information on links between the militant outfit and various
organisations, including one that claims to be a human rights watchdog.
The incriminating documents, packed
into three suitcases and as many trunks, were found during a search operation
inside a cave in the Kumoi Hills of Morigaon district.
Special branch personnel investigating
the matter refused to name any NGO, saying they would do so only after
finding irrefutable proof of the Ulfa's links with the organisations mentioned
in the seized documents.
The investigation team is trying
to determine the duration and the nature of the links between the NGOs
and the outfit.
The Union home ministry last month
blacklisted 824 NGOs operating in five states of the Northeast and Sikkim
for suspected links with militant outfits. As many as 151 of these organisations
are from Assam.
The ministry compiled the list on
the basis of information from various sources. Most of these NGOs were
found to be extending financial help to militants and functioning as fronts
for various outfits by masquerading as service-providers in the economic,
healthcare and education sectors.
It is not known if any of the NGOs
whose activities the police are investigating figure in the list.
Sources said some of the blacklisted
NGOs had taken advantage of their proximity to the state governments and
leaked out information on official policies and strategies to militant
outfits. Several had functioned as recruitment agencies for these outfits.
Meghalaya tops the list with 323
NGOs of doubtful integrity, followed by Manipur, which has 197. Nagaland
has 82, Tripura 69 and Sikkim two. Only Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh do
not find mention in the list.
"Apart from information on the links
between NGOs and militants, the seized documents contain details of payments
made to the Ulfa by businessmen," a police official disclosed.
He said the investigation team required
more time to peruse the entire set of documents, most of them old and worn
out, and pinpoint the NGOs having links with the Ulfa.
"Several of the seized documents
are copies of demand notes served by the Ulfa on businessmen, while some
are propaganda leaflets," deputy inspector general of police (central-west
range) Pallab Bhattacharya said.
The police said the recent arrest
of a woman member of the Ulfa, Kalyani Keleng alias Jonali Keleng alias
Sunita Sonowal, and two members of the Manab Adhikar Sangram Samity, a
human rights organisation, had nothing to do with the recovery of the documents.
A police team from Morigaon arrested the trio in Guwahati on Sunday.
However, a source in the special
branch claimed the Ulfa's links with the rights group was "well-known"
and that one of the seized documents mention a request to the militant
outfit to sponsor a trip to New Delhi by some of its members.
On the condition of the documents,
he said, "Some of the documents have been destroyed by rain. The boxes
were apparently lying in the cave for some years now. We also found CPI
(M-L) propaganda material in the suitcases," he added.
Morigaon superintendent of police
Violet Baruah said district police officials were helping the special branch
sleuths examining the documents.
Baruah said the Ulfa member who
was arrested in Guwahati on Sunday has been remanded in judicial custody
after interrogation. The police official said her revelations had led to
arrest of another Ulfa militant from the New Guwahati area. The militant
was carrying Rs 1 lakh at the time of his arrest.
