Nava Thakuria
It’s almost official: bad days are ahead for Paresh
Baruah, military chief of the
banned United Liberation Front of Assam. Slowly losing ground in
Bangladesh, he is also under attack by government forces in Myanmar. The
elusive
Barua, who had been hiding out in Dhaka for many years recently left and
is said to be holed up somewhere on the
Burma-China border. Given
the
increasing strategic relationship between Dhaka and New Delhi, he is
finding it difficult to maintain activities in Bangladesh, where once he
and his
armed outfit enjoyed a free run with the help of other Ulfa
political-wing leaders.
Recent media reports have once again
revealed that the Ulfa
in general and Barua in particular invested heavily in various
Bangladeshi enterprises. The outfit’s general secretary, Anup Chetia
(now in a
Bangladesh jail), took the initiative to invest in some avenues in
Bangladesh that would be beneficial for the outfit, which is fighting
for a Swadhin
Asom from outside India. Chetia is also said to have cultivated pro-Ulfa
Bangladeshi politicians and even a section of the
media in Dhaka.
A
report prepared by Indian security and intelligence agencies with the
help of Bangladesh’s National Security Intelligence, divulges
that
Baruah has investments in real estate, the health sector,
textiles,shipping, power projects and restaurants – all worth $20
million and
with, of course, fake identities. The report discloses that the Ulfa
leader invested around $14 million in three Dhaka-based real estate
firms –
namely, Basundhara Real Estate (17 per cent stake), Eastern
Housing
Project (nine per cent stake) and Jamuna Group Housing Project (two per
cent
stake). His money is also said to be involved in Chowdhury Shipping
($2.5 million), Kasem Textiles ($1.7 million),Samrita Hospital
($200,000), and a
Chinese restaurant, Wimfray ($100,000). It also said Barua annually
receives nearly $500,000 through a money transfer agency for spending on
various
activities.
News from Burma (Myanmar) says separatist militant outfits from the North-east are facing attacks from the Myanmarese army. With
Myanmar President Thein Sein due to visit India next month, the attacks on
Ulfa and other outfits in the jungles of northern Myanmar are expected
to intensify. A recent statement from the Ulfa camp revealed that
their
hideouts inside Myanmar had been attacked by government forces but it
claimed that all of their cadres escaped unhurt. Another Ulfa statement
claimed that Barua had not sustained any bullet injuries in the
offensive as
was widely reported in the media.
Apart from Barua’s outfit, the NSCN (Khaplang), Manipur People’s Liberation Army, United National
Liberation Front and Prepak have training camps in Myanmar’s Sagaing division, where nearly 300 are
undergoing intensive arms and ammunition
training.
To prove its claims, the Ulfa statement added a photograph
of Barua, the second of the notorious leader to be released in the last
few
months. The email statement, issued by close Barua associate Arunoday
Dahotiya went on to allege that New Delhi had supplied a huge amount of
arms and
money to the Myanmar regime to go on the offensive against
the militants.
It is worth mentioning that the Indian government recently
supplied 52 military truckloads of arms and ammunition to the Myanmar government.
India continues to maintain a strategic and military
relationship with that country’s regime despite the brickbats from the international
community.
Expressing resentment at New Delhi’s
continued military relationship with Nay Pie Taw, Myanmar’s new capital,
hundreds of pro-democracy Myanmarese and Indian activists demonstrated
in New
Delhi on 22 July 2011, arguing that “supplying arms to the
most brutal military dictatorship may have grave consequences to
millions
of innocent lives”.
Born in 1979 with the intent of rendering
Assam independent of India, the Ulfa today is a divided house, with
chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and his followers having joined in the peace
process with New Delhi. But Barua continues to stick to the primary
demand.
Dahotiya’s email claimed that New Delhi paid a special economic package
worth as much
as Rs 20,000 crore to flush out the rebel camps from
Myanmar, adding that the Myanmar government had been offered Rs 100 crore “to kill Paresh at the earliest”.
It
also said that New
Delhi had, for some time now, maintained the practice (of paying
neighbouring countries in need) and paid a Rs 1,000-crore package to
Bhutan to
destroy Ulfa, following which Thimpu flushed out the outfit’s camps in
December 2003. Dahotiya also claimed New Delhi had recently offered
money
to the Dhaka government led by
Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, with a request to take action against Ulfa leaders and cadres sheltering in that
country.
Accordingly, Dhaka handed over many militant leaders. No official statement was issued by the Bangladesh government.
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