Although it was somewhat long in the offing, the over a decade-long peace dialogue with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) [Pro-Talk] finally reached a logical conclusion on December 29, 2023, with representatives of the Government of India led by Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, Government of Assam and senior members of the ULFA.
Born on the ramparts of an Ahom amphitheatre in Sibsagar on April 7, 1979, the ULFA had been one of the front-ranking insurgent organisations in the Northeast. Indeed, during its heyday, the organisation’s clout and firepower had been considerable and was being touted as a serious national security issue that the Indian state had to grapple with. Its chequered history witnessed three important Indian army operations in Assam, namely Operation Bajrang, Operation Rhino-I and Rhino-II.
Billeted in the hinterland and in all the five outlying countries that made up the strategic encirclement of the Northeast, the organisation had ominous anti-India camps in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Nepal and Myanmar. Indeed, the group’s anti-talk faction, led by Paresh Barua, continues to have watered-down camps in Myanmar’s Sagaing Division. But active military operations and strategies which instituted (a) kinetic action (b) psychological initiatives and (c) developmental imperatives won the day and the organisation was soon careening out of control.
Bhutan, at the request of India, mounted an armed operation and broke ULFA’s back in the Himalayan kingdom. Its move to Bangladesh was marked by shenanigans by Pakistan’s ISI and Khaleda Zia’s patronage.
But with the return of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government, the scenario witnessed the handing over of almost the entire Central Committee of the organisation to India. Important leaders of the group, such as its chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa; Foreign Secretary, Sasadhar Choudhury; Operations Commander, Raju Baruah and a few years later, the outfit’s General Secretary, Anup Chetia returned to Assam and soon a benevolent Indian government, recognising that the “boys” were indeed our own, was working out modalities for a peaceful settlement with one of the most important insurgent organisations in South Asia.
Certain observers of the historic peace agreement may tend to pooh-pooh the extraordinary effort of New Delhi in its ability to anvil durable peace in Assam. Indeed, it is true that a small but insignificant section led by Paresh Barua continues to stay away from a dialogue process. Of late, there have even been attempts by ULFA (Independent) to make a comeback.
Assam and the other seven states of the Northeast have been sagely christened as India’s “Ashtha Lakshmi” or the eight personification of the Goddess of Wealth by Narendra Modi.
The region is now poised for correct development. Earlier attempts at ethnic resurgences have been industriously addressed by the present government and regional aspirations have joined hands with Modi’s national dream. Northeast India and Assam are on the road to developmental vision escape velocity acceleration and take off.
On the law and order front, the success story has been no different. Almost all wayward insurgent groups – the Adivasi, Karbi or Dimasa -have been brought back to the mainstream. The dreams and aspirations of their respective parishes have been fulfilled by a sympathetic government.
The Assam Police, under able leadership, has ushered in an era of peace. The situation has to be seen to be believed. Almost all important festivals that were concluded during the last couple of months, be it the Durga Puja, Diwali or the Chhath Puja, were ones of secure festivities and an alert Assam Police did not leave any stone unturned to ensure that the people of Assam could air their happiness with pomp and gaiety.
The anti-talk ULFA faction, as aforesaid, has been trying to make a sinister return and upset the wondrous work that a resolute New Delhi, Assam government and Assam Police have achieved. But the anti-talk ULFA has come up against a concrete wall ordained by both the Assam Police, its intelligence branch and most importantly, the Assamese population.
The recent apprehension of a ULFA cadre, Vivek Axom, by the security forces in Upper Assam/Arunachal Pradesh in the thereabouts of Jagun, has dealt a body blow to the organisation’s attempts to regain lost attention. It is reported that Vivek Axom along with another ULFA cadre had entered Assam via Arunachal Pradesh from ULFA’s Wakhtan camp in Myanmar’s Sagaing Division. Codenamed Yankee-3, Vivek Axom is reportedly a self-styled captain in the organisation.
Today, it is a well-known fact that ULFA led by Paresh Barua is a dead organisation. This is despite the fact it has, as aforesaid, a few run-down camps in Myanmar. But even these are skeletal, without any ideological or military will. Leaders of these camps such as Arunodoy Dohotia, Michael Deka Phukan and a handful of tired cadres are just surviving.
It has also been reported that the ULFA has gotten into some sort of understanding with the Myanmar Army which is battling the People’s Defence Force and the ethnic militias post the military takeover of February 1, 2021. The quid pro quo that has been worked out states that the ULFA (as also to the G-5 that comprises the valley-based insurgent groups of Manipur) will help the Myanmar Army to quell the civil strife that has erupted inside the “Land of Jade” after the putsch. In return, these insurgent groups will be left to their own devices in Myanmar and their camps will not be touched as was the case in earlier occasions. It would be recalled that the Myanmar Army had, before the military takeover, destroyed a number of Indian insurgent camps in Taga and thereabouts.
In any event, the ULFA’s attempts to make a comeback showcase the desperation that has set in among its rank and file in Myanmar. Food and arms supplies have depleted and there is a reported despondence among the cadres. In this context, it must be comprehended that attempts by certain wayward youths to join the banned organisation are egged on by romantic daydreams. Anti-talk ULFA neither possesses teeth nor ideology. While it was true that attempts at violence, bomb explosions, abduction and extortion had marked the difficult years of the 1980s, the fact of the matter is the terrorist organisation has lost its shine.
The Modi government’s mantra of development and peace has endowed its practitioners with patriotic might and concerted state action has won the day and banned insurgent groups have been completely marginalised.
Today, ULFA’s anti-talk struggles to survive in a civil strife-torn Myanmar. The motley organisation’s leadership is in the hands of anti-India inimical powers such as Pakistan’s ISI and China’s Ministry of State Security. Paresh Barua, battle-fatigued and wrecked with renal disease, limps uncontrollably in China’s Yunnan province. Intelligence source states that he is being chaperoned by a Chinese woman, who the Chinese intelligence has foisted, on him. His own family continues to be in Bangladesh, removed from the realities of Assam.
Recent moves to “bare broken fangs” by ULFA (especially when it sought to threaten the DGP of the Assam Police) are not only laughable but showcase limp attempts to attract the attention of a people who are eagerly striving for development under the able leadership of the Modi regime. But such sinister attempts will be fought and decisively defeated by a resolute Assam Police. The Assam government will respond in correct measure to anti-national overtures.
The celebrated events of December 29, 2023, when the real ULFA led by Arabinda Rajkhowa was welcomed by Amit Shah, will go down as one of the most important national security management successes in recent times.
Jaideep Saikia is a conflict theorist and bestselling author. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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