GUWAHATI, April 18 — The banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) is desperately trying to remain in the limelight by attacking soft targets. Over the past few months, the outfit has been severely weakened by the killing of several middle-level leaders all over Assam and the clash of personalities among its top leadership. Security sources said here that the desperation of the ULFA is evident from the fact that it chose to attack the Digboi refinery last month despite it being designated as world heritage site. The Digboi refinery, set up in 1901 is the first refinery in India and among the oldest in the world. The attack on a petrol storage depot of the refinery on March caused an estimated loss of Rs 20 crore, the sources said.
According to the sources, the ULFA is now almost totally at the beck of the Pakistani ISI which is using it to destabilise the North East. “The outfit is working at the behest of the ISI”, the sources claimed, pointing out at the fact that ULFA cadres are being trained by members of the Al-Queda in camps in Bangladesh. It may be mentioned here that ULFA ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Barua had visited Pakistan in early 2000 to have consultations with senior ISI officials there.
Over the past few years, the ULFA has been on the run with the security forces, under the Unified Command structure, gaining the upper hand. Over 12,000 ULFA cadres had been apprehended in the State since 1997, the sources stated. Another 1,540 have been killed till last year. The ULFA is engaged in a desperate recruitment drive to make up for the loss but has achieved little success so far, the sources claimed. The outfit, created on the pipedream of a ‘sovereign Assam’, has gradually alienated itself from the people owing to its transformation from an idealistic militant group to an organised gang of extortionists, the sources claimed. The outfit has often targetted innocent people and the people have replied accordingly. So far, more than 60 cadres of the outfit have been lynched by the common people, the sources said.
The sources said that the ULFA is merely implementing the ISI agenda in Assam, even extending help and support to Islamic fundamentalist groups operating in Assam with the dream of setting up a homeland for the Muslims in the North East. “The outfit is acting as a modern-day Badan Barphukan” the sources stated, comparing the ULFA with the 19th century official who invited the Burmese to invade Assam in 1816. The close links between the ULFA and the Islamic militants is evident from the fact that senior ULFA leaders met with leaders of several fundamentalist outfits in Bangladesh in May last year, the sources said. The agenda of the meeting was to extend mutual cooperation for the respective outfits. While the ULFA is extorting crores of Rupees from the public in Assam, it is being supplied with arms and ammunition through the ISI channels, the sources stated.
According to the sources, the attack on the Digboi refinery and the mortar attacks all over the State are an attempt by the outfit to remain in the media focus. Otherwise, the outfit is facing a desperate situation with most of the lower cadres no longer willing to risk their life chasing an impossible dream, the sources stated. The disenchantment of the cadres has been heightened by the power struggle among the leadership who no longer see eye to eye”, the sources stated.