The “pro-talks” faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) came to New Delhi on August 5 to hold talks with home minister P. Chidambaram. Led by “cha-irman” Arabinda Rajkho-wa, the team included “vice-chairman” Pradip Gogoi, “deputy-commander-in-chief” Raju Baruah, “foreign secretary” Sasadhar Choudhury, “finance secretary” Chitrabon Hazarika, “cultural secretary” Pran-ati Deka, “publicity secretary” Mithinga Daimary and political ideologue Bhimkanta Buragohain. They presented a charter of demands to the government, which according to sources include a special constitutional status for Assam and control over local resources.
Before leaving for Delhi, Mr Rajkhowa told reporters at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Guwahati: “We have prepared a charter of demands which we finalised in our recent meeting in Nalbari. The charter does not include the call for sovereignty.” Sounding confident of a positive outcome of the talks, he then piped up with “Anup Chetia should be brought back to India so that he can take part in the talks.” Chetia, a.k.a. Golap Baruah, is a cousin of Paresh Baruah, whose views against talks have been repeatedly reported. While Paresh, leading the anti-talk faction, has so far opposed any negotiation with the government, saying “There cannot be any dialogue until the government agrees to discuss Ulfa’s demand for a sovereign Assam”, Rajkhowa reportedly claims, “So far Paresh Baruah has not opposed the peace process and we hope that he will come and participate in the talks.”
On Chetia’s extradition, Bangladesh home minister Sahara Khatun said: “I don’t think there is any obstacle in handing him (Chetia) over to India... but definitely, there are procedures in extraditing someone who is in jail.”
On September 8, 2011, Paresh was reported to have been injured in a shootout with the Burmese Army in the northwest jungles of Burma, while he was with a group of Manipur’s Peoples’ Liberation Army terrorists also hiding there.
In an email sent on September 8, 2011, Paresh claimed that the Burmese Army had targeted the joint base of several militant groups from the northeast with “direct help from Indi-an government”, including heavy armaments and other military hardware. Appealing to the people of Assam, the email also claimed that the government has been pursuing all its neighbours to flush out Ulfa militants from their territories. “In 2003, it was Bhutan, which got `1,000 crores in aid from India in reciprocation. Then came Bangladesh where India has pledged a loan of $1 billion. We have information that New Delhi has given an aid of `2,000 crores to Burma,” Paresh is reported to have said.
Meanwhile, in a press release issued by the publicity incharge of the Ulfa’s hardliner group, Arunodoi Dohotiya said that the Government of India paid substantial amounts of money to the neighbouring countries to launch attack on the Ulfa’s bases. This release stated that the government gave financial assistance of `20,000 crores (as against `2,000 crores mentioned earlier) to Burma along with weapons to take action against the “revolutionary groups” and that it also promised `100 crores more if Paresh Baruah can be killed within September, the Ulfa alleged.
Paresh Baruah has also interestingly commented that India is “trying to please Bangladesh with a border land swap deal” to get custody of the insurgent group’s general-secretary Anup Chetia. Bangladesh is trying to hand over Chetia against his wish and India is going overboard to please the neighbouring country by signing the land swap deal in return.”
Paresh also criticised Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi for not protesting the proposed land agreement, which would allegedly “alter the geographical map of the Indian state. India is quite aware that the land swap deal would alter the map of Assam and this fact is well known to Tarun Gogoi. But instead of opposing the move, he is accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to witness the signing of the agreement,” Paresh said. This is indeed ironic as Paresh, heading the undivided Ulfa while he was ensconced in Bangladesh for almost two decades, helped the process of demographical change in eight districts of Assam by catalysing the illegal influx and ensuring that the illegal entrants get settled.
Paresh, known to be enjoying the patronage of the previous Bangladesh Nationalist Party government in Bangladesh, had to face reverses and was forced to flee during a clampdown on Indian militants by Bangladesh authorities after Awami League returned to power. He is one of the co-accused in smuggling 10 truckloads of arms and ammunition to Bangladesh, which were seized from a jetty of Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd in the port city on April 2, 2004.
The weapons, reportedly meant for terrorists in the Northeast, were allegedly ordered by Paresh. Since the last two years Paresh, along with the PLA and National Socialist Council of Nagaland/Nagalim-Issac Muivah faction, is involved in acquiring arms and ammunition from China to supply to the Naxal-Maoists. However, as far as the Burmese Army’s operation against Indian insurgent-terrorist groups hiding in the Taga region of Burma is concerned, authoritative home ministry sources told this newspaper that it was an eyewash conducted after tipoffs to Indian insurgent-terrorist leaders about their proposed operation.
The Burmese Army had reportedly informed these groups at least a week before the operation that they were entering Taga region on September 6-7. The sources also referred to a press statement emailed by Ulfa on September 7, in which the outfit claimed that the Burmese Army had launched an offensive against them in the morning, whereas it reached Taga area only on the evening of September 7.
Security agencies keeping a close watch over developments in the border area had corroborating intercepts that there was no Burmese Army activity in Taga area till 3.30 pm on September 7. The security sources said they suspect the Burmese Army colludes with Indian insurgent leaders and that they have wireless communications intercepts indicating that the rebels had shifted to new locations a day before the Burmese Army fired on deserted camps. The sources said the Burmese Army routinely carries out cosmetic operations before thrice-a-year bilateral meetings with India and then claims to have cleaned up territory occupied by Indian insurgents.
Apart from Operation Golden Bird conducted in 1995, when 40 terrorists were reportedly killed and about 200 captured, quite often in past years the Burmese Army has made a show of launching operations without actually doing any damage to the groups camping there.
India has a 1,630-km border with Burma. Insurgent groups such as the United National Liberation Front, the People’s Liberation Army, and Naga and Kuki forces are active in four border states — Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mani-pur and Mizoram.
Trafficking of drugs and guns is carried out by Burmese Kachin, Wa and Shan armed ethnic groups and by Chins in western Burma. They had reportedly also smuggled forged Indian currency into India.
Lt. Gen. N.K. Singh, former GOC of the Corps headquartered at Dimapur, is reported to have stated to the media some time in 2009: “There have been qui-te a few seizures of arms and drugs in recent mo-nt-hs. Most of those involved were Chins, who have the advantage of looking like the Mizos and speaking a similar language.”
Anil Bhat, a retired Army officer, is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi