Author: Dr. Anand Kumar
Publication: South Asia Analysis Group
Date: August 14, 2007
URL: http://www.saag.org/papers24/paper2332.html
ULFA has been itching to do something horrible
before the Independence Day as it has been doing for many years in the past.
The government of India and its security agencies were also aware of this.
The increased pressure of security agencies gave ULFA little leeway to act.
But this also forced the outfit to look for softer targets. In this search
of ULFA, the minority Hindi-speaking migrant workers once again fitted the
bill. The only difference is this time the outfit has targeted this population
in a different area. In this nefarious act, ULFA is suspected to have been
helped by some smaller local terror groups.
It has almost been a ritual for the insurgents
of northeast to boycott Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations. The
run-up to the events has always been violent, with rebels striking vital installations
including crude oil pipelines, trains, road and rail bridges, and security
personnel. Even this time ULFA has been able to raise the pitch of violence
days before India celebrates its 60th independence anniversary.
On August 10, 2007 heavily-armed militants
of ULFA raided two houses of businessmen in Assam's remote Dolamora area,
dragged their families out and shot 12 people on the spot. Those killed were
non-Assamese, whom the ULFA accuses of plundering the state's resources and
spoiling its culture. In other attacks, militants triggered two bomb explosions
in crowded places in Karbi Anglong district, killing a two-year-old boy and
wounding 15 others, including some non-Assamese. The Assam police held ULFA
and the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF) responsible for the
incidents. These groups have been working in tandem in parts of Karbi Anglong
district. The KLNLF has been fighting for a homeland for tribal Karbis living
in the two hill districts of Assam - Karbi Anglong and North Cachar.
Earlier, on August 8, the rebels shot dead
eight non-Assamese people, including two children and three women, in the
same area and in a similar strike. The latest deaths bring to at least 27
the number of people killed in rebel attacks in Assam since August 5. Nineteen
of the dead belonged to the Hindi-speaking community. Nearly 70 more people
were injured in the attacks. The security forces also gunned down few ULFA
militants.
ULFA has tried to justify this terror by saying
that workers from Hindi speaking areas are taking the job of Assamese and
threatening local culture. That is completely untrue. Reports have indicated
that of late there has been a huge increase in Bangladeshi population in Assam.
These people have come to Assam after being evicted from other states in India.
ULFA is total silent on this influx of Bangladeshis for reasons known to all.
The Assam Public Works (APW), the non- governmental
organization engaged in a campaign against ULFA has stated that the terror
outfit was targeting the Hindi-speaking group in an effort to please its Bangladeshi
masters. The organization has termed the recent attacks on the Hindi speaking
community as a ploy of the ULFA to divert the attention of the people from
the burning issue of illegal migrants and secure a footing for the infiltrators
that are strongly entrenched in several districts. Appealing to the people
of the State to come out openly against the ULFA, the APW has said that it
was time to drive out the ULFA along with the Bangladeshis from the State.
ULFA has been indulging in this kind of violence
for a number of years. In a most abominable act of terror in 2004, ULFA had
carried out a blast in Dheemaji on the occasion of Independence Day. In this
incident ten schoolchildren were among 13 people who were killed.
ULFA had planned similar explosions this year
during Independence Day. With this objective it had smuggled large quantities
of explosives in the state. The Assam police had recovered an Improvised Explosive
Device (IED) on June 25 from the heart of the Dibrugarh town and arrested
one ULFA militant who confessed that it was meant to be planted at the Parade
Ground there.
Another hardcore ULFA militant Bitopan Moran
was arrested in Dibrugarh with four kilogram of explosives on July 24. His
arrest further proved that the ULFA was out to create disturbance in the Independence
Day celebrations. During questioning by the police, the arrested militant
admitted that his task was to plant a bomb in the field where the Independence
Day celebrations was to take place and he was also asked to lob a grenade
at a police station. Following the arrest of Moran, security of all the parade
grounds in the state was increased.
On July 28 Assam police unearthed yet another
ULFA plot to replicate the 2004 Dhemaji blasts across parade grounds in the
state during official functions to celebrate Independence Day. The plot became
known after two arrested ULFA militants were interrogated by Sivasagar police
and Guwahati police grilled two others. The four insurgents were arrested
in separate operations.
On July 30 police in Dibrugarh once again
recovered huge quantities of RDX, weighing about 25 kg and suspected to be
meant for use by the ULFA to disrupt Independence Day celebrations. This explosive
was recovered from two different villages. In this connection police arrested
four persons, including a 15-year-old girl, who allegedly has a relationship
with a hardcore ULFA cadre of the 28th battalion. The explosives were brought
by another hardcore ULFA cadre of the outfit's 28th battalion Amar Tanti.
On August 2, the Assam police revealed that
the capital city Guwahati was sitting on as many as 10 explosives dumps that
police know about but cannot locate. These explosives were smuggled into the
city a few months ago.
These recoveries of explosives in different
parts of the State and arrests of senior cadres exposed the attempts of ULFA
to carry out subversive activities during the run-up to the Independence Day
celebrations. According to reports available with the forces, apart from trying
to plant explosives on parade grounds, the ULFA leadership also instructed
the cadres to target oil installations including pipelines, security forces
and even Hindi-speaking people in the run-up to the Independence Day celebrations.
Assam police also has the information that
several members of C company of 28 battalion of the ULFA have managed to penetrate
into the upper Assam districts to carry out subversive activities despite
the fact that the battalion as a whole, which is considered to be the strongest
of the battalions of the militant outfit, suffered severe setbacks in anti-insurgency
operations in recent past. The operations of the battalion are mostly masterminded
by hardcore militant Jiten Dutta and it is suspected that he is operating
from the bases of the outfit in Arunachal Pradesh.
On the other hand, most of the operations
in lower Assam including in Guwahati city are being masterminded by dreaded
militant Hira Sarania and though the security forces came very close to nabbing
him on several occasions in recent past, he is still managing to hoodwink
the forces.
The Assam police also believes that the members
of the 109 battalion of the ULFA are mostly being used for transporting explosives
from Bangladesh border to other parts of the State and according to information
available, Drishti Rajkhowa and Antu Chowdang are involved in facilitating
transhipment of explosives from Bangladesh to India. It is also reported that
of late, the ULFA has started supplying weapons and explosives to other militant
outfits of the region.
ULFA is now using fresh cadres and semi trained
cadres to plant explosives in Guwahati. Since the police have no information
on these recruits, they mingle with the population and continue their work
unnoticed. These new recruits are put through a short period of training in
the basics of assembling bombs and IEDs. As the training period is hardly
of three or four weeks' duration, these youths never become hardcore militants
and remain in the mainstream. Even the neighbours of these recruits do not
suspect anything because they are absent from their homes only for a few weeks.
Security agencies are convinced that about 25 explosions in the Guwahati this
year have been the handiwork of ULFA recruits about whom they knew nothing.
The problem is compounded with the availability of PTD switches. Fortunately,
the damage has been less serious as on quite a few occasions, the militants
got the timings wrong and bombs went off at middle of night or very early
in the morning.
These intelligence reports have prompted Dispur
to ask all districts to "sanitise" and secure parade grounds immediately
to foil an ULFA plan to replicate the blast it had triggered during the Independence
Day function in Dhemaji three years ago. ULFA also sensed that it will be
little difficult for it to repeat Dheemaji this time. At the same time, it
wanted to do something to make its presence felt in the state. The hapless
Hindi-speaking minority workers once again paid the price for this devilish
desire of ULFA. To make its attack more brutal ULFA partnered with KLNLF.
It has used this strategy in the kidnapping of FCI official P C Ram. This
strategy was once again used to spread terror before the Independence Day.
ULFA has not only adopted several new strategies
to increase in striking ability, it has also taken some nasty steps to malign
the image of security forces. According to army officials in eastern Assam,
the outlawed ULFA has virtually formed a 'molesters' unit' with cadres who
"do not appear local at first glance". Members of this unit impersonate
army and paramilitary troopers, raid villages and sexually harass women to
give the security forces a bad name. The ULFA recruits have also reportedly
been perfecting their Hindi to make their "molestation act" more
authentic.
The security forces got wind of the ULFA's
"gameplan" after a group of ULFA militants, disguised as soldiers
in battle fatigues, allegedly raped two women and molested 11 others at Lezai
Baruagaon in Dibrugarh district on July 16. This group was led by dreaded
ULFA militant Baba Dadhora. Initially, villagers blamed army men for the incident.
But when army organized an identification parade of all their personnel in
the village the very next day, the local residents found none like the molesters.
A similar exercise was undertaken by the CRPF too. To defeat this game plan
of ULFA the Assam government has barred civilians from wearing olive green
battle fatigues used by Army and paramilitary forces personnel engaged in
counter-insurgency operations.
ULFA Repeats Demand of Sovereignty
The success of ULFA in intensifying terror
has encouraged it to once again raise the issue of sovereignty. On the occasion
of outfit's 'Martyrs Day' ULFA asserted that Assam's "sovereignty is
the birthright of the indigenous Assamese and there can be no deviation from
this path." This was stated by ULFA Chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa, in an
email statement to the media in Assam. He also claimed the recent incidents
of bomb blasts and killing of innocent people was not carried out by the ULFA,
but was allegedly "perpetrated by the security forces to malign and brand
the ULFA as a terrorist organisation". Referring to Assam's recent border
disputes with Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, the ULFA Chairman alleged
it was the government's policy that had kept the issue alive.
Conditional offer to ULFA
The increasing environment of insecurity in
Assam has given a chance to the opposition parties to launch a scathing attack
on the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has even demanded
that that the government should release the five jailed ULFA leaders to facilitate
peace talks. Responding to this Gogoi on August 9 told the Assam Assembly
that his Government was ready to release jailed leaders of the ULFA to facilitate
peace negotiation provided the militant outfit comes forward for direct talks.
India asks Bangladesh to hand over ULFA leaders
India made a strong case for an extradition
treaty with Bangladesh to get hold of the militant leaders controlling the
terror network from the safety of their hideouts in Bangladesh in the recently
held 2-day home secretary level talks in Delhi. In the changed circumstances,
for the first time on August 3, Bangladeshi delegation admitted that ULFA
commander-in-chief Paresh Barua was on its territory and even promised to
track down the man who is "heard" but never seen. The visiting team
said Barua was arrested in 2002 and released the very next year at the insistence
of the Bangladesh Human Rights Commission. He jumped bail and has since been
elusive. Another ULFA leader, general secretary Anup Chetia, was lodged in
a Bangladesh jail for some years and released in 2006 when his term ended.
This admission by Bangladesh is a small step forward over the rather ineffective
practice of simply exchanging lists of terrorists and fugitives. On earlier
occasions, acceptance of the fact that militants from India were operating
from that country was almost unthinkable.
Conclusion
ULFA has been able to spread terror in the
run up to Independence Day.. In 2004, it did this by exploding bomb in Dheemaji
killing several school children. This time it has struck against Hindi speaking
migrant workers. ULFA has been desperate to do something sensational before
the Independence Day. This gives them an opportunity to get maximum publicity.
It also creates an environment of terror and stops people from taking part
in Independence Day celebrations. But when its cadres do not succeed in getting
their prime targets their strategy is to strike the next available target.
The rogue character of ULFA is increasing by the day. This also puts a question
mark over the justification of holding talks with the outfit. Instead the
government should focus more on putting pressure on neighbouring countries
to weaken the operational ability of the outfit.
