United Liberation Front of Assam is a separatist group from Assam,[1] among many other such groups in North-East India. It seeks to establish a sovereign Assam via an armed struggle in the Assam conflict. The government of India banned the organisation in 1990 citing it as a terrorist organisation, while the United States Department of State lists it under "other groups of concern."[2]
ULFA claims to have been founded at the site of Rang Ghar on April 7, 1979,[1] a historic structure from the Ahom kingdom. According to Sunil Nath, the ULFA established its relationships with Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1983 and with KIA, operating in Burma, in 1987.[3] It initiated major violent activities in 1990. Military operations against it by the Indian Army that began in 1990 continue until present. In the past two decades some 18,000 people have died in the clash between the rebels and India.[4] On December 5, 2009, the Chairman and the deputy commander-in-chief of ULFA fell into Indian custody.[5]
There has recently been a large ULFA crackdown in Bangladesh, which has significantly assisted the government of India in bringing ULFA leaders to talks. In January 2010, ULFA softened its stand and dropped the demand for independence as a condition for talks with the Government of India.[6]
Agreement Signed for Suspension of Operations against ULFA A tripartite agreement for Suspension of Operations (SoO) against ULFA was signed on 03-September-2011. The Government of India was represented by the Joint Secretary (North-East), Ministry of Home Affairs, while Government of Assam was represented by the Home Commissioner, Shri Jishnu Barua and Addl. Director General of Police, Shri Khagen Sharma. ULFA was represented by Shri Shashadhar Chaudhuri, Shri Chitraban Hazarika and Shri Raju Barua.[original research?]
The major leaders of the organisation are:
The ULFA was started when the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) reached a high for its xenophobia of all foreigners in 1979. The founders included Paresh Baruah, Arabinda Rajkhowa, Anup Chetia, Pradip Gogoi, Bhadreshwar Gohain and Budheswar Gogoi on 7 April 1979. It was formed at the Ahom King in Sibsagar to ensue upon an armed struggle to form a Socialist Assam.
Recruiting for the front did not begin until 1983. Soon after it finished recruitment in 1984, it began to seek out training and arms procurement from other groups such as the Kachin Independence Army(KIA) and the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland(NSCN). In 1986 it launched a fund raising “campaign” across India by way of extortion. It then began to set up camps in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh but was soon banned by New Delhi on November 7, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967.
In less than a decade of its formation, the Ulfa emerged as one of the most powerful and violent insurgent outfit in Southeast Asia, largely because of the immense popularity it enjoyed during the first decade of its struggle as well as its economic power which in turn helped it in bolstering its military capabilities. In the early 1990s, ULFA launched an aggressive campaign with victims such as security forces, political opponents, and blasting rail links. In July 1991 the front captured and held 14 people for ransom, included in the abductees was an engineer and a national of the Soviet Union. From the 1990s on the ULFA have continued to carry out terrorist attacks. [9]
The ULFA is a "revolutionary political organization" engaged in a "liberation struggle" against state terrorism and economic exploitation by India for the establishment of a sovereign, independent Assam. It does not consider itself a secessionist organization, as it claims that Assam was never a part of India and as a matter of fact the Treaty of Yandaboo was signed in 1826 by General Sir Archibald Campbell on the British side, and by Governor of Legaing Maha Min Hla Kyaw Htin from the Burmese side. With the British army at Yandabo village, only 50 miles from the capital Ava, the Burmese were forced to accept the British terms without discussion.
According to the treaty, the Burmese agreed to (1) cede to the British Assam, Manipur, Rakhine (Arakan), and Taninthayi (Tenasserim) coast south of Salween river, (2) cease all interference in Cachar and Jaintia, (3) pay an indemnity of one million pounds sterling in four installments, (4) allow for an exchange of diplomatic representatives between Ava and Calcutta, and (5) sign a commercial treaty in due course.
It claims that among the various problems that the people of Assam are confronting, the problem of national identity is the most basic, and therefore it seeks to represent "independent minded struggling peoples" irrespective of race, tribe, caste, religion and nationality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Yandabo
The Government of India (GOI) has classified it as a terrorist organization and had banned it under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 1990. Concurrently, GOI started military offensives against it, named Operation Bajrang November 1990, Operation Rhino September 1991, Operation All Clear December 2003 and Operation Rhino 2 led by the Indian Army. The anti insurgency operations still continues at present under the Unified Command Structure.
The Government of India accuses ULFA of maintaining links with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan and the DGFI of Bangladesh, and waging a proxy war on their behalf against India.
The outlawed group has been using China for shelter following mounting pressure from both Burma and Bangladesh, in turn pressured by India. The outfit’s top commander, Paresh Baruah, is living near the Sino-Burmese border looking for an alternative position for a hideout. There are 50 ULFA militants holed up in China’s Yunnan Province led by the group's Lt. Partha Jyoti Gogoi.[10]
Some of the major assassinations by ULFA include that of Surendra Paul in May 1990, the brother of businessman Lord Swraj Paul, that precipitated a situation leading to the sacking of the Government of Assam under Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and the beginning of Operation Bajrang.
On the ULFA’s Army Day on March 16, 2003, an IED explosion under a bus on National Highway No. 7 killed six civilians and wounded approximately 55 others.[9]
In 1991 a Russian engineer, and national of the Soviet Union was kidnapped along with others and killed. In 1997, Sanjay Ghose, a social activist and a relative of a high ranking Indian diplomat, was kidnapped and killed. The highest government officer assassinated by the group was local AGP minister Nagen Sharma in 2000. An unsuccessful assassination attempt was made on AGP Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in 1997. A mass grave, discovered at a destroyed ULFA camp in Lakhipathar forest, showed evidence of executions committed by ULFA.
ULFA continues to attempt ambushes and sporadic attacks on government security forces.
In 2003,the ULFA was accused of killing labourers from Bihar in response to an alleged molestation of a Mizo girl in a train passing through Bihar. This incident sparked off anti-Bihari sentiment in Assam, and ULFA saw it as an opportunity to regain its lost ground. The ULFA killed civilians of Bihari origin who had been in Assam for generations, and had been assimilated in the greater Assamese society.
MORE FACT ABOUT THE ANTI-BIHARI KILLINGS BY ULFA
In 2003, during a Railways Recruitment Board Examination for Group(D)posts conducted by North Frontier Rail(a wing of Indian Railways), a good number of candidates from Bihar and other states were beaten up and stopped from taking exam by some elements who were seeking 100 percent reservation for the Assamese non-employed long ahead of the date of the said test.
In resentment, some hoodlums misbehaved randomly with train passengers from North Eastern States passing through some of the stations like Katihar, Jamalpur, Kishanganj in Bihar.
During that period ULFA was already losing its popularity and ground across many pockets in Assam where it had strong holds. However, ULFA took this situation as an opportunity to fan an opposition against 'India' among people in Assam. They started killing innocent Hindi speaking people(mostly having origin in Bihar) just to show own presence in the State.
On August 15, 2004, an explosion occurred in Assam in which 10-15 people died, including some school children. This explosion was carried out by ULFA. The ULFA has obliquely accepted responsibility for the blast.[11] This appears to be the first instance of ULFA admitting to public killings with an incendiary device.
In January 2007, the ULFA once again struck in Assam killing approximately 62 Hindi-speaking migrant workers mostly from Bihar. ULFA notoriety as a directionless and unpopular organization increased, as the bomb blast victims also included several ethnic Assamese people. The Central Government made a tough response, forcing a dreaded group of ULFA - 28 Battlaian - to unilaterally bow down and seek asylum from the government. This particular one-sided ceasefire broke the backbone of ULFA.
On March 15, 2007, ULFA triggered a blast in Guwahati, injuring six persons as it celebrated its 'army day'.
The ULFA has claimed responsibility for bombings of economic targets like crude oil pipelines, freight trains and government buildings, including the 7 August 2005 attack.[12]
ULFA carried out a bombing and destruction of a five million liter pretrol reservoir at Digboi refinery in Tinsukia with an estimated property loss of Rs 200million. On the same day they also damaged a gas pipeline in the oil district of Tinsukia [9]
In the initial years of the Ulfa movement (when it used to enjoy widespread public support in both urban and rural areas of Assam), cadres were recruited from rural areas as well as from many towns in Upper and middle Assam districts. One of the most popular Ulfa leader of all time, the late Heerak Jyoti Mahanta hailed from a place which is just a few kilometers from the state capital Guwahati. However, with the Assamese urban middle class becoming increasingly skeptical of Ulfa's method of functioning, the Ulfa targeted the remote villages and the tribal areas for recruitment. According to intelligence sources, the Paresh Baruah faction of the Ulfa, which have been continuously raising its voice against the ongoing peace process being initiated by the Arabinda Rajkhowa faction, is engaged in a massive recruitment drive in the rural areas of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sibsagar, Lakhimpur and Nalbari districts of Assam.
After 1985 and before it was banned in 1990, ULFA was credited in the media with many public activities.
It has continued a public discourse of sorts through the local media (newspapers), occasionally publishing its position on political issues centred around the nationality question. It has participated in public debates with public personalities from Assam. During the last two local elections the ULFA had called for boycotts, though media reports suggest that it had intimidated activists of the then ruling parties (Congress and AGP respectively).
The ULFA is credited with some bank robberies during its initial stages. Now it is widely reported to extort businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians for collecting funds. In 1997, the Chief Minister of Assam accused Tata Tea of paying the medical bills of the ULFA cultural secretary Pranati Deka at a Mumbai hospital.
The ULFA is reported to maintain a number of camps in Bangladesh, where members are trained and sheltered away from Indian security forces. Until recently, they had maintained camps in Bhutan, which were destroyed by the Royal Bhutan Army aided by the Special Frontier Force in December 2003. These camps housed combatants and non-combatant families of ULFA members.
The ULFA maintains close relationships with other separatist organisations like NDFB, KLO and NSCN(Khaplang). The Indian Army notes that
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The ULFA is fighting the jihadi war on behalf of the ISI and taking help from jihadi elements. No doubt they (ULFA leaders) are in a foreign land and are under the control of the ISI which is calling the shots and asking them to do what the ISI wants[citation needed] |
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Beginning in 1990, the Government of India has attempted to wean away members of the ULFA. This occurred due to the death of the ULFA's deputy Commander in chief Heerak Jyoti Mahanta on December 31, 1991. Mr. Mahanta strongly stood against any kind of surrendering, but after his death it nevertheless happened. In 1992 a large section of second rung leaders and members surrendered to government authorities. These former members were allowed to retain their weapons to defend themselves against their former colleagues and were offered bank loans without any liabilities. This loose group, now called SULFA, has become an important element in the armed politics and business of Assam. However there have been cases of surrenderings being staged for political and economical reasons by local and national governments.
The total number of ULFA cadres to have laid down arms has gone up to 8,718. 4,993 cadres surrendered between 1991 and 1998. 3,435 surrendered between 1998 and 2005 when a new policy to deal with the ULFA was unveiled.[13] On 24 January 2012 One of northeast India's biggest surrender ceremonies took place in Assam's main city of Guwahati, a total of 676 militants laid down weapons and in return received roses from the home minister.[14]
During the government of AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, a number of family members of ULFA leaders were assassinated by unidentified gunmen. With the fall of this government following elections in 2001, the secret killings stopped. Investigations into the killings culminated in the report of the "Saika Commission", presented to the Assam Assembly November 15, 2007. The report provides details about the killings, which were organized by Prafulla Mahanta in his role as the Assam Home Minister, and executed by the police, with cooperation from the Indian Army. The actual killers were surrendered elements of the ULFA, who would approach their targets at home, at night, knocking on the door and calling out in Assamese to allay suspicion. When the victims answered the door, they were shot or kidnapped to be shot elsewhere.[15] Even the elder brother of Paresh barua,Dinesh Barua was picked up at night from his house by unidentified assamese boys along with army with weapons,and later his body was found lying near a cremation centre in Chabua. Ulfa's Publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary is the worst victim of the secret killing episode losing five members of his family.
The ULFA has put forward a set of three preconditions for talks and negotiations with the Indian government. The government has rejected these preconditions. The preconditions are:
- The talks should be held in a third country.
- The talks should be held under United Nations supervision.
- The agenda of the talks should include the sovereignty of Assam.
In 2004, the ULFA dropped the first two preconditions and offered to talk with the government. The Government of India was not ready to negotiate on the issue of sovereignty. Still some progress was made when the ULFA formed a "People's Consultative Group" in September 2005 to prepare the grounds for an eventual negotiation between the government and ULFA, which the government has welcomed. In a sustained operation launched by Indian Army inside a National Park in Dibru Saikhowa, ULFA lost its hides and camps, important leaders and cadres. The group came to the negotiating table in 2005. According to the India Times, talks were first held in December 2005 at the residence of the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. There were three rounds of peace talks with the 11-member People's Consultative Group (PCG), headed by noted Assamese writer Indira Goswami, leading to a temporary truce in August 2006. However the truce broke down by September 23 of the same year as ULFA continued with its violent activities against civil population mainly tea estates and oil pipelines. It also violated ceasefire as it lobbed grenades on Army columns during the ceasefire period.[16]
Ceasefire by a portion of 28 Battalion of ULFA
Some leaders & cadres of the A and C companies of ULFA declared unilateral ceasefire on 24 Jun'2008 at a press meet held at Amarpur in Tinsukia district. The declared the ceasefire in order to pressurise the top brass of ULFA to sit on negotiation table with the Government of India. But the top brass of ULFA expelled the leaders of 28 Battalion led by Mrinal Hazarika and Jiten Dutta ( who had managed to escape from the cordon of Indian Army in Dibru Saikhowa National Park). The group later renamed as ULFA ( Pro-talk ).
Currently the 28th Battalion is under commandership of Lt Bijoy Chinese alias Bijoy Das.[17] All the battalions have now been disbanded and only part of 27 battalion renamed as Kapili Gut remains. There are no commanders other than Paresh Baruah. All the others have been downgraded to staff and workers.
With the arrest and deportation of top Ulfa leaders by the Bangladesh government to India, the once stalled peace process received a boost when the jailed Ulfa leaders took the initiative in forming a "Citizen Forum" comprising intellectuals, writers,journalists, sympathizers and professionals from various other fields that would act as a catalyst in bringing the Government of India and the rebel Ulfa to the negotiating table. In a sate level convention held in Guwahati on 24 April 2010,the forum passed a set of resolutions to expedite the peace process between Government and the ULFA. These resolution include sending an 11-member team to Delhi to put pressure on the Centre to hold talk with ULFA at an earlier date. The convention resolved to urge both government and ULFA to come forward for talk without any condition. Moreover, the convention in a resolution demanded immediate release of ULFA leaders for from jail. According to the Indian Army sources, the total strength of ULFA is around 3,000, while various other sources put the figure ranging from 4,000 to 6,000. A military wing of the ULFA, the Sanjukta Mukti Fouj (SMF) was formed on 16 March 1996. SMF has three full-fledged battalions: the 7th, 8th and the 709th. The remaining battalions exist only on paper at best they have strengths of a company or so. Their allocated spheres of operation are as follows:
7th Bn (HQ-Sukhini) is responsible for defence of General Head Quarter (GHQ).
8th Bn - Nagaon, Morigaon, Karbi Anglong 9th Bn Golaghat, Jorhat, Sibsagar
11th Bn Kamrup, Nalbari
27th Bn Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Kokrajar
28th Bn Tinsukia, Dibrugarh
709th Bn Kalikhola
In the past decade nearly 2,500 (approximate) militants, including about 200 women cadres have surrendered to the government.
- Bloody Tea - Program on Aljazeera telecast beginning May 30, 2007. On YouTube: Part 1, Part 2. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
- [3]
- Report on the most recent ULFA attack on poor migrant workers, January 2007
- ULFA home page
- "ULFA cadres went to Pak via Bangla for training in explosives, say Assam cops" - article in Yahoo! India News dated June 15, 2006
- "Media gag must go, journalists tell ULFA" - article in Yahoo! India News dated June 15, 2006
- "'Respect right to freedom of expression':Media to ULFA" - article in Yahoo! India News dated June 15, 2006
- "Assam on Red Alert following fresh ULFA strike" - article in Yahoo! India News dated June 12, 2006
- "Market blast kills at least 4 in Indian northeast" - article in Yahoo! India News dated June 12, 2006
- Assam: GlobalSecurity.org
- ULFA - Terrorist Group from Assam from South Asia Terrorism Portal
- "Bomb kills 10 at India Independence Parade" - article in New York Times dated August 15, 2004
- [4]
- United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) - Terrorist Group of Assam - South Asia Terrorism Portal
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