Guwahati: The ULFA and 11 other north-east insurgent outfits have jointly called for a boycott of the Independence Day celebrations and a general strike on August 15.
A joint e-mail statement issued by ULFA anti-talk faction central publicity wing ‘commander Lt’ Arunudoy Dahutia said besides the I-day celebrations boycott, a general strike was also called throughout the region from midnight of August 14 to 5.30 pm of 15 August. Besides ULFA, the 11 militants groups are Hynnitrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), Kanglei Yaol Kanna Lup (KYKL), National Liberation Front of Twipara (NLFT), Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak/Progressive [PREPAK(Pro)], Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF), Tripura People’s Democratic Front (TPDF), United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and United People’s Party of Kangleipak (UPPK).
Essential services such as medical, electricity, water supply, fire services and the press have been exempted from the purview of the strike, said the ULFA statement.
Dohutia also accused the Central government of “trying to lure the people and the freedom fighters (ULFA leaders) in the name of peace talks to the so-called Indian mainstream.”
“We have experienced futile promises of Indian Government in Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, etc, and the present process of peace talk in Assam and Nagaland is nothing but dilly-dallying our struggle of national self-determination,” he asserted expressing doubt on the talks process. (PTI)
