NEW DELHI, July 7 ?? Bhutan has decided to carry the war into the enemy?s camp by asking outlawed ULFA to shut down its headquarters. At a final round of joint meeting with the outfit?s chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa and commander-in-chief, Paresh Baruah they are likely to be given the marching orders. In an apparent shift of strategy, the Royal Government of Bhutan instead of targeting individual camps and hounding out ULFA cadres operating out of the country, has decided to start from the top by asking the outfit to close down its main headquarters. It now appears that the Royal Government intends to tackle each militant outfit separately and ULFA tops the list followed by NDFB and Kamtapuri Liberation Organisation (KLO).
Another aspect of the deliberation that should set alarm bells ringing in Delhi is the suggestion by a few Bhutan Assembly members that Bhutan should look towards China for help instead of totally relying on help from India. A few members implied that ULFA was not able to move out its men and material because Indian security forces sealed Indo-Bhutan border, indicating that India deliberately wanted to keep the militants confined to Bhutan. However, Foreign Minister, Lyonpo Jigmi Thinley discounted such a possibility assuring that India did not have any negative intentions on Bhutan. The government and people of India were willing to allow the militants to come back to Assam any time, and even grant them amnesty if they gave up their arms. It would even give them support to start new lives. Thinley said that India had always been Bhutan?s closest friend and the most important development partner since the first five-year Plan
?The headquarters of the ULFA, used by their leaders and military commanders, must be moved out of Bhutan. The other ULFA camps would close and the militants would leave the country if its headquarters were moved,?? the Bhutanese National Assembly which is having its 80th sitting has been told by King of Bhutan Jigme Singye Wangchuk. ?There is no use if they agree to move two or three camps because we will never know if they will be merged into the other remaining camps or be relocated in another area within our country,? the King said, adding that it was not possible to count or determine the number of militants in the dense forests where it is difficult to even locate them. The Royal Government also wanted to leave the ULFA?s leadership with little room to manoeuvre by deciding to insist on presence of both the elusive commander-in-chief and chairman at the meeting. It has been decided to hold talks with the chairman and the military commander of ULFA together because, in the past, it was on the pretext of the absence of one or the other that no decisions could be taken during the meetings. It was decided that both the chairman and the commander should be present for any further meetings, the National Assembly decided.
In a bid to send a tough message to ULFA?s leadership, the National Assembly further decided that the government would not agree to any more meetings on the reduction of camps but would only discuss the closure of the main camp which served as their headquarters. If the leaders of the ULFA refused to relocate their headquarters, then it will be clear to the government and people of Bhutan that the ULFA has no intention of leaving Bhutanese territory and therefore there would be no other option but to evict them physically, the National Assembly decided for the second time in two years. The King said that these decisions had been taken, keeping in mind the importance of ensuring the peace and security of the country and the well-being of the Bhutanese people. If this strategy worked, it would greatly benefit the country.
Significantly, security agencies and Assam Government?s apprehension that ULFA was trying to pull the wool over Bhutan Government?s eyes by making few cosmetic changes has proved to be true, as members after members reported that fresh batches of ULFA cadres were sighted in the countryside. The Home Minister, Lyonpo Thinley Gyamtsho reported that although only five camps should have been left, the ULFA had opened a new camp on a mountain ridge above the Samdrup Jongkhar-Trashigang highway. Thus the ULFA today had six camps within Bhutan, he conceded.
A member hailing from Dagana area said that 10 fully armed ULFA militants had entered his area through the jungles of Sarpang and Tsirang between February 18 and 22, followed by groups of four and 16 militants a few weeks later. Another member also reported the presence of armed militants on February 16 and April 29. The country?s Home Minister, meanwhile, reminded the Assembly of the four-point resolution: peaceful solution through talks; stopping of supplies and rations; prosecution of those assisting the militants; and military action. He informed the Assembly that he had held six rounds of talks, four with ULFA leaders and two with Bodo leaders, since 1998. Since the 79th session of the National Assembly, he had held one round of talks with Rajkhowa. The chairman had reiterated that the ULFA understood the problems faced by Bhutan as a result of their presence and reassured the government that the ULFA would completely withdraw from Bhutan.
Gyamtsho informed the Assembly that, as of December 31, last year the ULFA had indeed closed down the four camps as per the agreed minutes. The camps closed were Gobarkonda, Nangri, Deori and the Military Training Centre in Martshala Geog. The camp?s sites had been subsequently visited by Bhutanese military and civil authorities and all the camps were burnt down to ensure that they could not be used again. ?There is also every possibility that the ULFA may not have complied with the second clause of the agreed minutes, to reduce the strength of their cadres in their remaining five camps, as it is not feasible for the royal government to monitor the movements of ULFA militants across the Bhutan-Assam border,? he cautioned. Meanwhile the NDFB had three main camps and four mobile camps between Lhamoizingkha and Daifam.