Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

Assam Citizenshi­p Bill prods banned ULFA to recruit

- Sadiq Naqvi Syed.Sadiq@htlive.com (inputs Padma Rao Sundarji)

FRESH DRIVE Police say 22 people, including five girls, have been counselled against joining the banned group in the last three years

Sometime in November, a 22-year-old automobile showroom employee in Assam’s Tinsukia stumbled upon a Facebook group named Xunjukto Mukti Bahini Asom, the Assamese name for the separatist United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). “The group had photos of the flag of (Paresh Barua-led) ULFA (Independen­t). Then some days later, somebody called Babul Asom called me and asked if I would join,” he said. He added he was having a bad day when the call came. “For a moment I wanted to join, but I told him I need to think.”

Before he could make up his mind, the Assam police detained him for questionin­g three days later after keeping him under watch. The showroom employee, who is being counselled, is not alone. Police say as many as 22 people, including five girls, have over the last three years been counselled against joining the banned group.Assam police’s intelligen­ce wing chief, Pallab Bhattachar­yya, blamed the furore over the Citizenshi­p (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which proposes to grant Indian nationalit­y to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanista­n, for giving a fresh lease of life to the ULFA (Independen­t)”.

Assam’s indigenous groups oppose the proposed amendment as they feel it will marginalis­e them further by encouragin­g more migrations of the Hindus from neighbouri­ng Bangladesh. They feel the ongoing exercise to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will have no

TINSUKIA(ASSAM)/JAIRAMPUR(ARUNACHAL PRADESH):

meaning if Hindu Bangladesh­is are allowed to become citizens and settle in Assam. The exercise is being conducted in line with the 1985 Assam Accord, which sought to detect and deport illegal immigrants. The pact was signed to end the six-year-old Assam agitation against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Over 800 people were killed in the agitation.

The social media appears to have made it easier for the ULFA to attract recruits. A police officer, who keeps track of the social media, said 80 Facebook profiles have been under watch for “posting content sympatheti­c” to the ULFA (Independen­t) or for “being connected to it.”

The 22-year-old’s profile was among them. He, too, was counselled but remains defiant. “Seeing what is happening in Assam right now, ULFA (Independen­t)’s stand is good,” he said. A former 30-year-old ULFA member complained everybody was being pushed into Assam. “There are so many Bangladesh­is. They want us to speak their language. The government allows it because of vote banks,” he said. “People are protesting against the Citizenshi­p Bill but nobody in the government is paying any heed,” said the 30-year-old. Many like a 19-year-old kick-boxer, Karishma Mech, have left their budding careers to join the ULFA. “Karishma always wanted to join the police or the Army. She may have been tricked into joining the ULFA,” said her mother, Manju Mech.Police say of the 18 confirmed recruits from Tinsukia over the last three years, eight have deserted the outfit. Another eight were arrested in November before they could leave for the camps in Myanmar.

But the 30-year-old former ULFA member insists the actual number of recent the ULFA recruits is much higher.

“I know because I am an insider,” he said. “Assam does not get its rights, the tea, the coal, it is all sold by Marwaris in Delhi,” he says. “I still get angry. I still dream of freedom for Assam.”

 ?? MINT FILE ?? Former ULFA cadres participat­ing in Raising Day celebratio­n at the Kakopathar camp in Tinsukia.
MINT FILE Former ULFA cadres participat­ing in Raising Day celebratio­n at the Kakopathar camp in Tinsukia.

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