NEW DELHI, June 14– ULFA has in the past two months embarked on a massive recruitment drive in Assam, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has cautioned the State Government, highly placed sources told this newspaper. ULFA’s growing belligerence in Assam after Bhutan crackdown has not gone unnoticed at the centre and the State Government has been kept posted of the latest developments.
Extortion notices on the tea companies, served recently, is but the latest in a series of the disturbing news that suggests that the ULFA after suffering massive set backs in Bhutan has started regrouping and concentrating its focus on recruiting fresh batches. ULFA was believed to be running short of cadres and trying to make up for the losses it suffered in Bhutan, sources said.
Contrary to popular perception that the outfit is facing a dearth in supply of arms and ammunition, it has emerged that 80 per cent of deadly arsenal of sophisticated weapons remained intact. ULFA still is left with a surplus weapons and ammunition though it is faced with a crisis of manpower, a MHA official centred.
During Bhutan Operation last December, Royal Bhutan Army reported to India that its troops seized a huge cache of weapons including over 500 sophisticated automatic weapons, thousands of rounds of SLRs, Chinese made mortars and an anti-aircraft gun during raids. But it transpires that more than the seizure of the arsenal, the arrest and surrender of its cadres hurt the outfit most, sources said.
Although the exact numbers is hard to come by, around 100 insurgents were killed in combat with Bhutanese army and cadres in hundreds surrendered along with women and children. They were later handed over to India and currently lodged in various prisons. Family members of the traceless cadres had even visited Delhi to petition the Centre to ensure their release.
Later this April, the militant outfit, in an apparent bid to put further pressure on the State Government abducted State Minister, G C Langthasa’s son, Nirmalendu Langthasa and demanded the release of seven of its top leaders gone traceless after Bhutan operations. Reports pouring in to North Block here suggests that the ULFA taking advantage of the elections silently mounted massive recruitment drives in the State catching the security agencies unawares. The outfit tapped the districts of Kamrup, Nalbari, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia among others for fresh recruits, sources divulged.
The situation was considered alarming so much so that top Army commanders recently briefed the Minister of State for Defence, Bijoy Krishna Handique on the latest developments in Assam on the ULFA front, sources revealed.