‘500 Ulfa militants in Myanmar’
Terror training camps run by Paresh Barua faction
The training camps operated by the dreaded Paresh Barua faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (UlfaIndependent) in Myanmar house more than 500 militants including women cadres youth comprising both men and women, confession by a militant who surrendered to the security forces on Sunday evening has revealed. The government’s claims that the Ulfa(I) is at an unprecedented low in terms of arsenal, firepower and sheer numbers flies in the backdrop of the latest revelations. The numbers are all the more significant as the militants are trained in the jungle guerilla style of warfare which believes in hit-andrun tactics.
The surrendered militant Naba Baruah, alias Barud Asom, 27, has told the security forces that the biggest ever congregation of about 500 Ulfa (I) cadres that he saw during his four-year-long stay in the Taga Ulfa base was during the celebration of Bohag Bihu or the Assamese new year in mid-April this year.
While Paresh Barua and other militant leaders including some from other Northeastern states danced to the traditional sway of the Bihu beats, there were many rings of security for the leadership, he is reported to have told his interrogators.
In Baruah’s training batch alone in 2013 there were about 35 fresh recruits who were trained by five instructors for four months. At the same time there were other training camps scattered around the China-Myanmar border and in Myanmar’s Sagaing Division that had little or no communication between them. A vast array of sophisticated weapons are available in the hands of the cadres which included AK-81, AK-47, AK-56, etc of which the sophisticated AK-81 is easily the favourite, Baruah is reported to have said adding that such Chinese-origin consignments continue to come to the Ulfa(I) bases on a regular basis.
These weapons are believed to have been manufactured in the ChinaMyanmar border regions that are controlled by the Wa insurgents and are usually have a ‘star’ mark. Intelligence reports had been underscoring that recruitment to the Ulfa(I) are on the rise especially from the Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Sivasagar districts. While youth are increasingly getting access to higher education, a deplorable state on the availability of employment avenues continue to haunt the state as also other states in the region.