ULFA tries to blow up train on ‘raising day’, hoists flags

Elsewhere, ULFA members unfurled the outfit’s white and green flag with its red rising sun in public places including education institutions and panchayat offices, official sources said. Its strike force ‘C’ (Charlie) company and ‘A’ (Alpha) company held a meeting in Lakhimpur district along Arunachal Pradesh, while its ‘B’ (Beta) company held another in Sibsagar district along Nagaland, said sources.

Police seized most of the ULFA flags hoisted in different parts of the state, including the one on Guwahati University campus. Four persons were arrested from the area.

Meanwhile, a dawn-to-dusk ‘Assam bandh’ called by Youth Welfare Association, headed by former chief minister P K Mahanta’s son Shyamanta Kashyap, demanding talks by the Government with the outfit’s representatives, affected normal life in Brahmaputra valley as people mistook it as one called by the ULFA. As long distance and city buses kept off the roads, commuters failed to make it to their workplaces forcing offices and banks to remain closed in several places, sources said.

ULFA was formed in 1979 at Rang Ghar at Gargaon in Sibsagar by seven persons, including its chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and commander-in-chief Paresh Barua.