Brain Stormer: ULFA Dead or Alive?

The recent killing of two civilians in the District of Tinsukia by the anti-talk faction of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) is raising fresh fears in the State. Sadly, the ULFA attack came days after the National Democratic Front of Bodoland-Sangbijit (NDFB-S) killed about 14 people in an open market in the Kokrajhar District of Assam. The killing spree of these militant groups need to be taken seriously because it might hamper the developmental efforts propelled by the new BJP-led Government of Sarbananda Sonowal in the State. ULFA was strategically hitting the Hindi speaking people just to show its decades old anti-Hindi vengeance. Even the same faction tried to destabilize the Independence Day celebration by remote blasts but fortunately no lives were lost in their attempt. Today, ULFA is a lost force and most of his big leaders have all surrendered except the aging Commander-in- Chief Paresh Baruah who is probably hiding somewhere in Bhutan or India-Myanmar border.

It is really sad that the successive governments in Delhi have totally failed to bring the militant group to the negotiation table. Though most of the hardcore militants of the group have already surrendered, yet the process of their negotiation has not come to a logical end. The Government should not simply take it as a law and order problem. It must address it as a serious issue of national security concern because in the past the ULFA had taken lot of innocent lives including foreign nationals and created havoc across the State. They should be handled carefully instead of just waking up to their threat whenever the insurgents show their firing power. This kind of lackluster approach to tackle the ULFA problem may once again bring terror back to the State. The Government must not forget that ULFA’s call for sons of the soil and an independent Assam has not lost in entirety. They must be involved in talks and their problem should be resolved by involving all the factions for sure. Hope the old ULFA terror does never come to the State.