Объединенный фронт освобождения Ассама: история и современное состояние.

Rebel organisation operating in state of Assam, India

The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) is an armed militant organisation operating in the Northeast Indian state of Assam. It seeks to establish an independent sovereign nation state of Assam for the indigenous Assamese people through an armed struggle in the Assam conflict. The Government of India banned the organisation in 1990 citing it as a terrorist organisation, while the United States Department of State lists it under "other groups of concern". According to ULFA (Assamese militant) sources, it was founded on 7 April 1979 at Rang Ghar and began operations in 1990. Sunil Nath, former Central Publicity Secretary and spokesman of ULFA has stated that the organisation established ties with the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland in 1983 and with the Burma based Kachin Independent Army in 1987. Military operations against the ULFA by the Indian Army began in 1990 and continue into the present. On 5 December 2009, the chairman and the deputy commander in chief of ULFA was taken into Indian custody. In 2011, there was a major crackdown on the ULFA in Bangladesh, which greatly assisted the government of India in bringing ULFA leaders to talks. In January 2010, ULFA softened its stance and dropped demands for independence as a condition for talks with the Government of India. On 3 September 2011, a tripartite agreement for "Suspension of Operations" agreement was signed by the Indian government, the Assam government and the ULFA.

The ULFA was founded on 7 April 1979 in Sivasagar, Assam by a group of young men that included Paresh Baruah, Arabinda Rajkhowa, Anup Chetia, Bhupen Borgohain, Pradip Gogoi, Bhadreshwar Gohain and Budheswar Gogoi. The organisation's purpose was to engage in an armed struggle to form a separate independent state of Assam. During its heyday in the late 80s and 90s, it enjoyed popularity among many of the indigenous Assamese people of the Brahmaputra valley. The majority of the supporters felt that a powerful organization was necessary to get the voice of a peripheral region heard in the corridors of power in Lutyen's Delhi. But gradually, the organisation's emphasis on extortion and smuggling of weapons in the name of furthering the 'revolution' led to mindless violence throughout the state. It witnessed a period marked by growing disillusionment and anger amid supporters. In their bloody conflict with the security forces, many innocent civilians were killed and several thousand were permanently maimed. It is estimated that more than 10 thousand local youths perished during that turbulent period. In the process, owing to the twin factors of increasing operations by the security forces and dwindling support among its core sympathisers, ULFA's importance in Assam has been declined drastically. Recruiting for the front did not begin until 1983. Soon after it finished recruitment in 1984, it began to seek out training and arms procurement from other groups such as the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). In 1986 it launched a fundraising "campaign" across India by way of extortion. It then began to set up camps in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh but was soon declared a terrorist organization by the government on 7 November, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In less than a decade of its formation, the ULFA emerged as one of the most powerful and violent insurgent outfit in Southeast Asia, largely because of the immense popularity it enjoyed during the first decade of its struggle as well as its economic power which in turn helped it in bolstering its military capabilities. In the early 1990s, ULFA launched an aggressive campaign with victims such as security forces, political opponents, and blasting rail links. In July 1991 the front captured and held 14 people for ransom, included in the abductees was an engineer and a national of the Soviet Union. From the 1990s on the ULFA have continued to carry out attacks. Till the late 2000s, it maintained a number of camps in Bangladesh, where members are trained and sheltered away from Indian security forces. In April 2004, Bangladesh police and Coast Guard intercepted massive amounts of illegal arms and ammunition, at Chittagong, being loaded into 10 trucks and intended for ULFA. A total of 50 were charged with arms smuggling and arms offenses, including former high level Bangladesh political appointees including Bangladesh National Party ministers and National Security Intelligence military officers, as well as prominent businessmen, and Paresh Baruah, military wing chief of ULFA who was then living in Dhaka. They had also maintained camps in Bhutan, which were destroyed by the Royal Bhutan Army aided by the Special Frontier Force in December 2003. These camps housed combatants and non combatant families of ULFA members. ULFA maintained close relationships with other separatist organisations like NDFB, KLO and NSCN (Khaplang). In 2008, News Services reported citing Indian police and intelligence officials reported ULFA's commander in chief Paresh Baruah had taken refuge in Yunnan Province of China, along China Myanmar border, due to continuous defeat of his Organization. The report also stated that a small batch of militants had also taken refuge along with him. Paresh Baruah had previously visited China in the 1980s. In December 2003, China spurned ULFA's chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa appeal to provide safe passage to the rebels from Bhutan.

During the government of AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, as a part of his government's counter insurgency strategy, unidentified gunmen had assassinated a number of family members of ULFA leaders. With the fall of this government following elections in 2001, the secret killings stopped. Dinesh Barua, the elder brother of Paresh Barua, was taken from his house at night by unidentified Assamese men, Later his body was found lying near a cremation center in Chabua. ULFA's self styled Publicity Secretary, Mithinga Daimary, also had his five family members killed during this period. Government investigations into the killings culminated in the report of the "Saikia Commission", presented to the Assam Assembly on 15 November 2007. The report describes how the killings were organised by Prafulla Mahanta, then the Assam Home Minister. They were executed by the police. The gunmen were former members of ULFA who had surrendered to the government. They approached their targets at home, at night, knocking on the door and speaking in Assamese to allay suspicion. When the victims answered the door, they were shot or kidnapped to be shot elsewhere.

Name Self Styled Designation Current StatusParesh Baruah Commander in Chief On Run, Sentenced to death by Bangladesh court. Heerak Jyoti Mahanta First Deputy Commander in Chief Captured and killed on 31 December 1991. Raju Baruah Deputy Commander in Chief Captured, Released on bailArabinda Rajkhowa Chairman Captured, Released on bailPradip Gogoi Vice chairman Captured, Released on bailAnup Chetia General secretary Deported to India from Bangladesh, Currently in Indian custody. Uddipta Hazarika First publicity secretary Lynched by mob in 1989Mithinga Daimary Publicity Secretary Captured, Released on bail Chitraban Hazarika Finance Secretary Captured, Released on bail Pranati Deka Cultural Secretary Captured, Released on bail Sashadhar Choudhury Foreign Secretary Captured, Released on bail

Enigma Force or Enigma Group was an exclusive and near autonomous striking group of the ULFA. It is known to a few top leaders of the outfit It was designed for hit and run type of operations. Some of the major assassinations by ULFA include that of Surendra Paul in May 1990, the brother of businessman Lord Swraj Paul, that precipitated a situation leading to the sacking of the Government of Assam under Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and the beginning of Operation Bajrang. On the ULFA's Army Day on 16 March 2003, an IED explosion under a bus on National Highway No. 7 killed six civilians and wounded approximately 55 others. This appears to be the first instance of ULFA admitting to public killings with an incendiary device. In January 2007, the ULFA once again struck in Assam killing approximately 62 Hindi speaking migrant workers mostly from Bihar. ULFA notoriety as a directionless and unpopular organisation increased, as the bomb blast victims also included several indigenous Assamese people. The Central Government made a tough response, forcing a dreaded group of ULFA 28 Battalion to unilaterally bow down and seek asylum from the government. This particular one sided ceasefire broke the backbone of ULFA. On 15 March 2007, ULFA triggered a blast in Guwahati, injuring six persons as it celebrated its 'army day'.

The ULFA has claimed responsibility for bombings of economic targets like crude oil pipelines, freight trains and government buildings, including 7 August 2005 attack on oil pipelines in Assam. ULFA carried out a bombing and destruction of a five million liter petrol reservoir at Digboi refinery in Tinsukia, with an estimated property loss of Rs 200million. On the same day they also damaged a gas pipeline in the oil district of Tinsukia.

After 1985 and before it was banned in 1990, ULFA was credited in the media with many public activities. It has continued a public discourse of sorts through the local media (newspapers), occasionally publishing its position on political issues centred around the nationality question. It has participated in public debates with public figures from Assam. During the last two local elections, the ULFA had called for boycotts. Media reports suggest that it used its forces to intimidate activists and supporters of the then ruling parties (Congress and AGP respectively).

The ULFA is credited with some bank robberies during its initial stages. Now it is widely reported to extort businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians for collecting funds. In 1997, the Chief Minister of Assam accused Tata Tea of paying the medical bills of the ULFA cultural secretary Pranati Deka at a Mumbai hospital.

The ULFA is involved in other organised criminal activities such as drug trafficking.

The leftover faction of ULFA has allegedly been using China for shelter following expulsion from both Burma and Bangladesh.