ULFA may shift base to Bangladesh

The Unified Command structure has produced a “synergized effect” in Assam with the army, police and para-military forces succeeding in killing and apprehending many top commanders of Bodo and ULFA groups and recovering large quantities of arms and ammunition from them.

The sources said that ULFA and Bodo groups have made Bhutan as their base for launching attacks on the security forces and innocent people. There are substantial sanctuaries in Bhutan for ULFA, the sources said.

The sources said that Opposition parties in Bangladesh are actively helping the insurgents, although considerable cooperation has been extended by the Bangladesh Government in recent times to contain activities of militants.

Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and Chief Secretary V S Jafa told a group of New Delhi based journalists that the Unified Command had been successful in curbing actvities of the ULFA.

The state government has also requested the Centre to take up with the governments of Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh the subject of stopping militants from using to use their soil to launch operations against India.The chief minister also claimed that the people have got fed up with the ULFA and other militant groups. And are actively helping the security forces to nab and apprehend their activists.

Lt Gen R K Sawhney, commander of the Unified Command, told newsmen that the situation was improving. The militants are under pressure. However, he said the problem requires a political solution for which the army is trying to create a climate for a dialogue with the militant leaders.

He said that ULFA militants mainly indulge in hit and run operations and also are involved in kidnapping and extortion. Since the launching of anti-insurgency operation, the incidents of kidnapping have come down.The ULFA, however, had recently killed social activist Sanjay Ghosh and kidnapped the manager of a tea garden.