Guwahati, December 7
Apprehending crackdown by Bangladesh authorities to flush out Indian militants taking shelter on its soil, the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) is trying to set up another base at Yunan province of China.
Assam’s newly-appointed director-general of police, G M Srivastava, who was instrumental in bringing the marauding ULFA to its knee during the late 1990s in the capacity of IGP (Law and Order), informed the media here that a group of ULFA cadres were now taking shelter in Yunan province of China as part of the outfit’s effort to set up a base there.
The Yunan province in China could be reached from eastern Assam through Arunachal Pradesh and neighbouring Myanmar, a route which is under strict vigil of the Indian Army to check cross-border movement of ULFA militants.
The ULFA has old connection with Yunan province in China given that a group of ULFA cadres had gone to that area for training at the initial stage after the formation of the outfit in 1979.
Now, under threat in Bangladesh because of increasing global campaign against terrorism, the ULFA is trying to revive its old contacts in Yunan province in China.
The senior police official further informed that the banned ULFA was still having some training camps in Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) in Bangladesh while a section of senior leaders of the outfit including its commander in chief Paresh Barua and outfit’s foreign secretary, Sashadhar Choudhury, are believed to be in the neighbouring country.
The Army and police operating against insurgents in Assam have been maintaining that it would not be possible to wipe out insurgency in Assam through use of force till the militants continue to have bases in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi has said that the state government is totally dependent on the Centre for facilitating eviction of the militants belonging to the United Liberation Front of Asom and other militants groups based in Bangladesh by the Bangladesh authorities.
