ULFA faces bad days in Burma

by Nava Thakuria from Guwahati
September 11, 2011

ULFA camps in Burma
The militant outfits from Northeast India, who are operating from the jungles of northern Burma, have a hard time ahead. One of the active armed groups of India, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has admitted that their camps in Burma are facing offensives from the Burmese soldiers. The news cannot be confirmed from the Burmese government at Nay Pie Taw, as it has little visibility in these remote areas which are in reality being ruled by the arms and drugs mafia for decades now. Of course, the version of ULFA leaders indicates that some kind of confrontations between the Burmese forces and North-eastern militant groups may be going on there.
A recent statement from the ULFA camp revealed that their hideouts inside Burma were attacked by the government forces, but all their cadres escaped. They also alleged that the Indian government had paid huge amount of arms and money to the Burmese regime to go offensive against the ULFA militants.
ULFA, which was born in 1979 to make Assam independent out of India three decades back, today is a divided house, as its chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa with his followers have joined in the peace process with the Union Government of India at New Delhi.
There are expectations for peace in the air. In an editorial, The Hindu narrated that 'the winding down of a 32-year-long low-grade
armed struggle in Assam is on course. Following the declaration of a unilateral ceasefire by ULFA chairman Rajkhowa, the central government and the Assam government have signed a 'suspension of operations' agreement with ULFA — what has been termed a 'gentleman's agreement'.
"This is the first time ULFA has signed an agreement with any government and the expectation is that a substantive political
dialogue will follow soon. ULFA's pragmatic approach, especially with regard to its longstanding but clearly untenable demand for
'sovereignty' for Assam, has to be appreciated — even if it is clear that a combination of circumstances seemed to give it little choice," the editorial added.
However, ULFA's military chief Paresh Baruah is still sticking to the primary demand for a Swadhin Asom. Baruah is understood to leave Bangladesh recently and now stay somewhere in Burma-China border areas, where from he and his followers are maintaining their so-called armed struggle.
The Hindu editorial also mentioned about the arrogant leader, "Nevertheless, the peace process remains under the shadow of an
unrelenting Paresh Barua, ULFA's 'commander-in-chief' who is believed to be based, along with some cadres, in the unruly international border between Myanmar and China."
The ULFA email statement, issued by Paresh Baruah's close associate Arunoday Dahotiya clearly claimed that New Delhi 'paid a special economic package worth as high as Indian Rupees 20,000 crores to flush out the rebel camps' from the Burmese soil.
"Additionally, the Burmese government is offered (by Indian government) Rs 100 crore to kill ULFA C-in-C Paresh Baruah' within this September," added the statement.
The outfit went ahead with other allegations that New Delhi had maintained the practice (to pay neighboring countries in need) since
long back.
"The Indian government paid Rs 1000 crore package to Bhutan to destroy ULFA, following which Thimphu flushed out the ULFA camps inside south Bhutan in December 2003," the statement added. It also claimed that New Delhi had recently offered money to the Bangladesh government with a request to take actions against the ULFA leaders and cadres taking shelter in that country.
Mentionable that the Bangladesh government led by Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina had recently handed over many militant leaders to Indian authority. Though India and Bangladesh does not have an extradition treaty till today, Dhaka arrested the militant leaders and handed over to India in secret missions. No official statement was issued by the Bangladesh government on the matter.