Ultras surrender in Assam

BILASIPARA (ASSAM), OCT 25: Sixty-eight militants, mostly belonging to the banned ULFA and the Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam, o...

BILASIPARA (ASSAM), OCT 25: Sixty-eight militants, mostly belonging to the banned ULFA and the Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam, on Wednesday bid farewell to arms on Diwali-eve in this lower Assam township.

Fifty-four militants belonging to the ULFA, four to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, and 10 to the MULTA laid down arms before State Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha, and Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta at a function here.

The ultras deposited 102 sophisticated arms including four AK-47 rifles, two US carbines, one rifle, one stengun, several pistols and revolvers and a huge quantity of ammunition.

Addressing the gathering, the Governor termed the surrender as a "Diwali gift" and hoped that the misguided youths would work for peace and unity. "There is no relevance of the call of the ULFA for freedom as Assam is already free and requiring now peace and prosperity," Sinha said.

The Chief Minister regretted that the State was lagging behind in development and had a per capita income of 44 per cent which was lower than the national average.

Mahanta said that the responsibility lies with the young generation to lend constructive cooperation in the efforts of the Government to bring peace and progress.

Two prominent ULFA leaders Raju Chakravarty, self-styled ULFA "district commandant" and Khiren Nath "finance secretary", who surrendered, narrated their "disillusionment" with the ULFA which they said "had no ideological stand".

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They admitted that there was no place for violence and that the ULFA had only done harm to the State and halted its economic development. The surrendered ULFA members later submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister calling for immediate steps for their rehabilitation under the various central schemes.

With Wednesday’s surrender so far 2,262 ultras of various militant outfits had returned to the national mainstream since 1999.

Earlier, 278 militants had laid down arms on Independence Day eve in Guwahati while 200 others had surrendered a month later in Nagaon.