'ULFA may disrupt polls'

GUWAHATI, March 22: After lying low for sometime, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) seems to be regrouping again with the ensuing polls in mind. According to intelligence reports, a group of about 40 to 50 hardcore members of the outfit, headed by senior leader Drishti Rajkhowa have already come down from their camps in Bhutan, highly placed police sources said. Police said that according to information available, one group has taken shelter in the Goalpara-Meghalaya bordering areas, and five members of that group were killed in a recent encounter with the Meghalaya police. Another group is reported to be moving around in the areas bordering Kamrup and Nalbari districts. Sources revealed that small groups of ULFA men have also sneaked into the upper Assam districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia from their bases in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. All these movements point out that the outfit has elections in mind. Police sources said that it is almost impossible to totally check the ultras from sneaking into the State from their camps in Bhutan because of the terrain in the Assam-Bhutan border. Moreover, all the routes in the bordering areas are open in the dry season and it is impossible to check all the jungle routes. As the election boycott calls during the last two general elections did not yield the desired results for the ULFA, the outfit may try to create panic by hitting specific targets. From the ULFA men, who got in touch with the security forces in recent months, the police came to know that the ULFA may try to target a few AGP leaders and workers to create panic. The militants may also target a few surrendered ULFA men and today's attack on SULFA man Dibakar Deka in the city proved such apprehensions to be correct. Meanwhile, the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) may also try to create disturbance during the polls and the recent statement of the outfit issuing threat to the mass organisations of the Bodos including the All Bodo Students' Union and the Bodo Sahitya Sabha revealed the frustrations of the outfit, sources pointed out. It may be mentioned here that the Chief Election Commissioner, M S Gill yesterday told newsmen that the Commission held discussions with the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and Director General of Police of Assam as well as with the Home Ministry officials. He said that steps would be taken to deploy maximum possible security personnel to ensure violence-free elections.