Bangladesh Backstabbed ULFA: Pro-Talk Faction Leader
A leader of pro-talk faction of the outlawed United Liberation From of Asom (ULFA) has said that Bangladesh has ‘betrayed’ and ‘backstabbed’ them after leaders of the outfit landed in the net of Indian security forces close to the border.
Talking to reporters in Guwahati on Thursday, leader of the pro-talk faction Mrinal Hazarika said: “The Bangladesh government has stabbed ULFA because for so many days Arabinda Rajkhowa, the self-styled chairman of ULFA was in Bangladesh but now they held talks with India and handed over him to India, definitely we feel betrayed.”
Last week, Rajkhowa was arrested after he appeared near India’s border with Bangladesh and was then produced before a court in Guwahati on December 5.
In a month, many leaders of the group – Rajkhowa, Raju Baruah, Chitraban Hazarika, Sacha Chaudhary – have been arrested. Only Paresh Barua, the commander-in-chief, is still elusive. Police believe that he is hiding somewhere along Mynamar-China border.
The ULFA, which demands independence for the tea and oil-rich Assam, is biggest insurgent group, running a three-decade-old campaign that has killed some 30,000 people.
Though the ULFA’s military strength has waned, it still has capacity to organise attacks. At least six people were killed and 40 wounded in two bomb blasts in Assam last month.
