NE ultras' foreign links cause concern

GUWAHATI, February 15: The growing links of the militant outfits of the Northeast region with foreign countries is causing concern among the security forces engaged in the counter-insurgency operations. Police sources said that at present almost all the major militant outfits operating in the region have foreign links and their leaders very often take shelter in foreign countries to escape the security net. Sources revealed that the first recorded links between NE militants with foreign countries dated back to 1960s when the Naga militants established contacts in China. In fact, the Isak Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) still enjoys very strong links with foreign countries and their leaders very often stay in Bangkok. According to an intelligence report, the NSCN recently procured a huge cache of arms and ammunition from a foreign country. However, the leaders of the NSCN have denied the reports and the general secretary of the NSCN, T Muivah, in a recent interview with The Assam Tribune asserted that they did not procure any weapon during the cease-fire period. According to information available with the security forces, the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) first established links with the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) through the Pakistani Embassy in Dhaka in 1989 and the ISI took a group of ULFA men headed by the former Deputy Commander in Chief of the outfit Hirokjyoti Mahanta and foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury to Afghanistan for training. Sources said that according to information available, now the links with the ISI is mainly being maintained by the ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah and it is doubtful whether the lower level cadres of the outfit are aware of the links in full detail. Sources said that Paresh Baruah is using a Pakistani passport and very often he travels to Pakistan. Several other top leaders of the outfit are using Bangladeshi passports as it is very easy to get a Bangladeshi passport. Police sources said that despite repeated denials of the Bangladeshi Government, it is a well established fact that the ULFA has bases in Dhaka and Chittagong and they are helped by the ISI in maintaining the bases. In 1994, the ULFA shifted their headquarter from Bangladesh to Bhutan apprehending trouble from the new Government after their accounts in the Sonali Bank were freezed and also because of the fact that it is easier to control the operations in Assam from Bhutan. Sources pointed out that the arrest of the ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia in Bangladesh might be a mere eyewash, as the other top leaders of the outfit are still maintaining bases in the neighbouring country with the help of the ISI and the Pakistan loyalists in Bangladesh. Sources also pointed out that the recent spurt of attacks on Hindi speaking people was typical ISI tactic used earlier in Jammu and Kashmir to terrorise people. But it is still not clear whether the ISI directly instructed the ULFA to attack the Hindi speaking people, sources added. Sources pointed out that despite pressures from India as well as its own people, the Government of Bhutan has not initiated any stern measure to evict the ULFA and NDFB militants camping in that country and lack of action on the part of the Bhutan Government enabled the militants to adopt hit and run tactics. On the reports of ULFA's links with China, sources pointed out that after his surrender last year, senior ULFA leader Lohit Deuri had revealed that the ULFA procured weapons from China. It is also suspected that the weapons seized during the Operation Golden Bird near the Mizoram-Bangladesh border in the early part of the last decade, were procured from China. But till date the security agencies have not been able to get any pinpointed evidence to establish ULFA's links with China. However, sources pointed out that in recent years, a number of Chinese arms and ammunition including AK series rifles, grenades and small arms have been recovered from the militants operating in Assam, which raised doubts on the possible links of the militants with China. The ULFA also maintains some bases in Kathmandu and the State Government sent an emissary to Kathmandu to initiate talks with the ULFA leaders camping there. However, the Government move failed to yield desired results as the ULFA leaders refused to talk to the emissary. The ULFA is also maintaining its 28 Battalion in Myanmar. Though the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) enjoys very good relation with the both the ULFA and the NSCN, it is still not clear whether the outfit has links with the ISI. Sources pointed out that the NDFB used Pakistani igniting devices to trigger off explosions on the Railway tracks last year, but that does not necessarily mean that the outfit has links with the ISI, as such devices are available in the clandestine arms markets. Sources revealed that apart from having camps in Bhutan, the NDFB has bases in both Bangladesh and Bangkok as the outfit's chairman Ranjan Daimary very frequently travels to these places. The recent killing of a top leader of the People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), a Manipur based militant outfit in the outskirts of Guwahati city, exposed the links of the outfit with foreign country. The documents recovered from the slain militant include documents relating to Bank accounts in Kathmandu and airlines tickets to Myanmar and Bangkok. Sources revealed that the outfit did not keep huge amounts of money in the account in Kathmandu and only the amount required to maintain the base was kept there. According to information available with the security forces, several militant outfits of the region including Manipur based outfit PLA and Tripura based outfits ATTF and NLFT are maintaining camps in the Chittagong Hill Tracts area of Bangladesh.