TEZPUR, Dec 28? ULFA?s political adviser and the founder of the outfit Bhimkanta Buragohain, who is presently in police custody in Sonitpur district after he alongwith four other ULFA cadres, was handed over by the Indian Army to the State Police, said that he had not surrendered before anybody including the Royal Bhutanese Army (RBA).
In an exclusive interview to The Assam Tribune, here Buragohain, popularly known as ?mama? in the rank and file of the outfit, said the attack on the North-east-based militant outfits (ULFA, NDFB and KLO) by the RBA was beyond imagination. The RBA has betrayed the ULFA despite the fact that the outfit assured the Royal Government to leave the Himalayan Kingdom by April 2004.
?Bhutanese Army?s aggression on our camps in the jungles of Bhutan shall not wipe out our existence,? the 78-year-old founder member said, adding that ULFA?s backbone as claimed by the Government has not been broken. Apart from the jungles of Bhutan, our cadres are camping in various places like Myanmar, Bangladesh etc.
The political adviser who was airlifted on December 25 from Bhutan and was handed over to the officials of HQ 4 Corps, said negotiation must take place on the conditions placed by the top leaders. He, however, stuck to the decision of sovereignty and other conditions imposed by the ULFA.
Buragohain, a former Army jawan who formed the outfit in 1979 at Sivasagar, said being a political adviser ?my war is not with guns but in black and white? and said for last eight years he had been camping at the Buddhist Kingdom and running the organisation. Stating that the organisation will fight till the end, the father of ULFA said after 1999 he has not met Paresh Baruah, the commander-in-chief of ULFA and added that he would agree with the decision taken by Paresh Baruah or Arobindo Rajkhowa.
When asked whether the Indian Army was operating in Bhutan, the political adviser replied in negative and added that he was well behaved and was well looked after by the Army authorities.
?Mama?, said that at the age of 78, it is the strong will power with which he has been surviving and maintaining a sound health. However, his main concern now was the women and children captured by the Royal Bhutanese Army from the jungle during the flush-out operations. On being asked to give a message to the people of Assam, Bhimkanta Buragohain said, ?only time will say about our deeds.?
PTI adds: Meanwhile, the ULFA ideologue today wanted both his outfit and Union Government to declare ceasefire and solve the problem through peace negotiations. Talking to PTI here before being produced in court, Buragohain said New Delhi should halt its military action against the outfit while the ULFA should also hold its guns to sit across each other for a solution to the vexed issue.
Asked if he would surrender after Bhutan handed him over to the Indian authorities after he gave himself up to the Royal Bhutan Army, Buragohain said he was contemplating it but was yet to take a decision as he had no communication with ULFA chairman Arobinda Rajkhowa and ?C-in-C Paresh Baruah to take their opinion on it. He also said that he had earlier pointed out to both Rajkhowa and Baruah to shift the Bhutan camps to a safer country, but they did not respond.