China shielding Paresh Barua: Report
From Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The Centre has no credible information regarding the whereabouts of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) C-in-C Paresh Barua.
The Ministry of External Affairs official on Wednesday feigned ignorance about the ULFA leader, reportedly, taking shelter in China.
Earlier reports said that China has been shielding the top Indian fugitive and supplying arms to his cadres.
Answering a question regarding the media reports suggesting the presence of ULFA leader Barua in Yunan province of China, MEA spokesman Vishnu Prakash said India had conveyed to Chinese friends, its concerns through notes and discussions regarding the insurgency and supply of arms in the region.
As far as the reports speculating Barua’s presence was concerned, India did not have credible information to take up the issue with Chinese authorities, he said.
The media revelation on Barua comes days before Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s meeting with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao in Bali on November 18 on the sidelines of the ASEAN and East Asia summits.
Indian agencies monitoring a series of telephone conversations from across the Sino-Indian border found a perfect match on what seemed like Barua. The ULFA C-in-C, who has been on India’s most wanted list, was tracked to a hideout in a small town in China.
There were also reports that Baruah was shot and injured by the security forces of Myanmar in a bordering region. But this was not substantiated later and ULFA too gave a denial.
Barua’s hideout and the GPS coordinates were tracked to Riulli in the Yunnan province of China bordering Myanmar. Barua’s conversations on the Indian side of the border were tracked to some cell phone numbers in Assam and even to some of his contacts in Delhi and Eastern Uttar Pradesh.