Paresh ‘reshapes’ Ulfa wing

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Paresh ‘reshapes’ Ulfa wing

A STAFF REPORTER

Guwahati, Nov. 19: The Paresh Barua faction of Ulfa today said it was revamping its political wing to carry forward its fight for the “sovereignty” of Assam. Barua, the outfit’s commander-in-chief who is against negotiations without a dialogue on sovereignty, had earlier rejected the “charter of demands” submitted by Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and other senior leaders to New Delhi for political negotiations. Today’s statement makes the split between the two groups clear. An email statement by Arunodoi Dohotia, the leader of Barua group’s publicity wing, hinted that the move was part of the outfit’s initiative to fill the vacuum created by Rajkhowa’s departure and that the permanent political set-up would be made public this month. Rajkhowa entered into political negotiations with New Delhi along with other senior leaders, after they were detained by security forces in Bangladesh and pushed back to India in December 2009. “The arrest of our chairman Rajkhowa and other central committee members had created a void in the organisation of Ulfa but an ad hoc committee was subsequently constituted to run the outfit and carry forward our struggle,” the statement said. It said Ulfa was “reshaping the political wing” to overcome the hurdles an ad hoc committee of a revolutionary group has to face while “taking forward its political and military activities, taking organisational decisions and implementing them and representing it at different platforms for a longer period of time”. It added that “work on the process is on at a fast pace”. Refuting reports about militarisation of the United Liberation Front of Asom, Dohotia said giving armed training to all its members was an organisational process of the outfit. “The military wing of the Ulfa is United Liberation Force, Assam, and this wing will continue our future course of movement as per the instructions of the political wing,” the statement said. The move comes amid a war of words between the two groups of the outfit — one led by Rajkhowa and the other by Barua over ways to solve the decades-long conflict in Assam. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi said the Barua group was trying to create problems but Dispur has managed to keep things under control. “Even extortion is down as people have started cooperating with security personnel. But we need to be vigilant against Ulfa, we cannot be complacent,” he added.