M A I N   N E W S

Twin Blasts
ULFA denies hand, security forces think otherwise
Bijay Sankar Bora
Tribune News Service

Guwahati, November 23
Normal life came to a grinding halt in the blast-rattled Nalbari district of Assam with several organisations, including All Assam Students Union (AASU), calling for a district-wide 12-hour bandh today in protest against Sunday’s twin IED explosions suspected to have been triggered by the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

Even though the ‘commander’ of ULFA’s 709 battalion Hira Sarania, a most-wanted militant, denied involvement of the outfit in the blasts, the security forces sounded certain about the body’s involvement. Sarania stated that the blasts were a ploy by a ‘third force’ to derail fresh initiative taken by People’s Committee for Peace in Assam (PCPIA) to facilitate talks between ULFA and the Centre. However, a senior police official informed that the blasts bore the stamp of the outfit which is out to make its presence felt and boost the morale of its cadres in the wake of arrests of two of its top leaders - Sashadhar Choudhury and Chitrabon Hazarika - in Dhaka recently.

Already, the banned ULFA had triggered blasts under a high-speed diesel carrying train on the night of November 16, causing damage worth over Rs 3.5 crore. The fugitive commander-in-chief of ULFA Paresh Barua called up media houses here to claim responsibility for that incident and stated that it was to prove that they were still strong enough to strike terror at its will.

Security sources said Sunday’s blasts in Nalbari, an erstwhile bastion of the ULFA, was aimed at proving a point that the outfit had remained a potent force to strike terror.

Such strikes help the outfit to carry out extortion from softened up targets.

Regarding the denial by a ULFA battalion commander about the outfit’s involvement in Nalbari explosions, a security source pointed out that there might have been a split in the ULFA over the fresh overtures for peace talks and the hawkish faction could have triggered the blasts to derail the initiative.

The source further pointed out that the blasts were triggered in Nalbari, the home district of arrested ULFA ‘foreign secretary’ Sashadhar Choudhury, who is now in the custody of Assam Police.The ULFA is now facing a crisis with majority of its central committee leader spending time behind the bars, leaving only four members of the top brass at large, and they are out of India.

Police sources informed that among the central committee members of the outfit, ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa was believed to be in Bangladesh, while, the commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah is reportedly moving in three countries --- China, Myanmar and Thailand. His deputy Raju Baruah is also in Bangladesh.