From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: Police and the Army operating under Unified Command have geared up vigil apprehending attempts by the anti-talks faction of the banned ULFA to strike terror on and around the is ‘Blackday’ on November 28.
The outfit observes the ‘black day’ in protest against launching of Army operation in Assam against it on November 28 in 1990.
Security sources informed that the ULFA anti-talks faction is trying recruit cadres as well as procure arms and ammunition with the help of Naga rebel group NSCN-K which has a strong base in Myanmar.
With cooperation from the NSCN-K rebels, the ULFA anti-talks faction led by fugitive Paresh Barua has been able to use Tirap and Changlang areas of Arunachal Pradesh as a passage between its base in Myanmar forests and Eastern Assam districts bordering Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
The tight vigil by security forces and police in Upper Assam areas has paid dividends in form of recovery of arms and ammunition kept in hidden by the outfit. One such significant recovery was that of five China-made bottle-shaped grenades from the backyard of a villager under Demow police station in Sivasagar district.
According to a senior police official, these bottle shaped grenades were far more powerful than the conventional olive-shaped hand grenades and don’t have in-built splinters.
The bottle-shaped grenades explode into several pieces with telling impact.
Paresh Barua’s strong opposition to the peace talks between the Government of India and pro-talks ULFA faction led by Arabinda Rajkhowa ( chairman) has posed challenge for success of the peace process given that the Barua faction has tried hard to gain fresh foothold in Assam especially Upper Assam districts Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia which are connected to Myanmar through troubled Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh.
Meanwhile, in view of intelligence inputs that the commander in-chief of the anti-talks faction of United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), Paresh Barua has found shelter somewhere in China and has been shuttling between China and his Myanmar base, Assam government expects Government of India to bring the matter to the notice of Beijing.
A source in the state home department informed that Assam government, in fact, expects it to happen when the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in the sidelines of ASEAN meet and East Asia Summit at Bali in Indonesia.