by Mrinmoy Baruah, Student at NERIM
In the last few years, Assam has witnessed a large number of militant outfits coming overground, surrendering their arms and entering into peace negotiations with the state or central government. The government of India has responded with various hard and soft strategies including military operations, development packages, surrender schemes, peace overtures and emphasis on harnessing the economic potential of the region to contain insurgency in the Northeast. The internal security concerns of Assam is determined to a large extent by the growth and retreat of ULFA, but the presence of ULFA alone is not the only prime concern, the fact that it has created certain interlinks with international Islamic militant groups becomes a larger concern.
In 2001, during the course of several peace-talk processes, the ULFA was clear that they would consider the talk with the government if the process was taken outside India under the supervision of the United Nations with the sovereignty of Assam as the core issue. These conditions were unacceptable to the central government, but sooner in 2005, ULFA abandoned the other demands, but pressed for the recognition of ‘sovereignty’. This pressing demand of sovereignty has continued till today, and is also reflected in the statements made by Paresh Barua, the chief of ULFA (I). Barua has repeatedly stated that he will not participate in the talk with the government if the issue of ‘sovereignty’ is not taken up as the core subject matter of these talks. Conversely the chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswas Sarma has made it clear that he has taken an oath to protect the sovereignty of India and Assam, and therefore cannot give way to any demands or discussion over it. This has created a deadlock and thus negotiations for peace talks have not been taken forward since.
Several other notions are also observed in due course of time, it involves information or doubt of a deep-link of international conspiracy with Pakistan and China - and, if there is a pressure upon ULFA (I) to remain away from the peace-talks in order to continue and facilitate terror activities in Assam. In what follows are revisits of some instances that indicate there is a spectral shift in the 'insurgency profile of Assam' alongside the homegrown ULFA (I) outfit.
The China Counterpart:
Reports published in Current Affairs Review have highlighted the constant support that China has provided to Paresh Barua. For instance, allowing him to inhabit and conduct operations from China. Especially after the proscription of ULFA (I) by the Indian government, and the death warrant issued on Paresh Barua’s name by the Bangladesh government for his role in the Chittagong Arms Haul - Barua has escaped the wrath despite two nation targeting him, which proved that China is in favor of Barua’s safety and has shielded him in many occasions. On the other hand, this ‘deniable covert support’ to Barua from China, complements the larger design of the ‘China-Pakistan economic corridor’ and the proposed ‘China-Myanmar economic corridor’ prospects. According to the retired Brigadier Rumel Dahiya, he says, “Paresh Barua’s disinterest in peace-talks is a strategy to keep India strategically imbalanced without taking an overtly hostile stance. As India becomes more determined about its geopolitical interests in the Indo-Pacific region, China's concealment of Barua does seem to fit well into the narrative”. In 2019, Paresh Barua also admitted to The Week in an interview, that he enjoyed “cordial ties with China'', which was later uploaded online, further affirmed the conspiracy to be viably accurate. Thus, even after repeated welcome gestures from the central government, Paresh Barua fails to promise peace in Assam by putting up obscure demands and stalling the peace-talks, to defend the interest of the external forces outragedly such as China against India.
The Pakistan Counterpart:
Alongside China, what is alarming in the whole scenario is the rise of ISI supported Islamic militancy in Assam. It is no brainer that ISI is known to have provided training to the ULFA cadres especially in terrorist tactics, counter intelligence, disinformation and use of weapons. The reports of Paresh Barua visiting Singapore, China, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand and other countries with passports issued in the name of Kamaruddin Zaman Khan, obtained with the help of an official of the Pakistan High Commission in Bangladesh, confirmed the alleged statement of ULFA (I) having deep affiliations with ISI. Reports reveal that the outfit has procured weapons from Thailand and Myanmar via the madrassas and mosques sponsored by the ISI in the Cox's Bazaar areas in Bangladesh. It has been an open secret for the last couple of years that external forces like China and Pakistan have harnessed new dangers of Islamic militancy rising in Assam, with the help of ULFA (I). Islamic-militancy is aided and abetted by the ISI and it is much more fundamentalist than other militant outfits in Northeast India. In an article published at the Hindustan Times titled, "Pak's Dhaka Mission has links with ULFA" (2000), it stated that at least 14 Muslim fundamentalist organizations are operating actively in Assam. Intelligence agencies indicated that almost all these fundamentalist organizations operating in Assam have a common cause and had approached several Muslim countries with the active connivance of the ISI and China - and ULFA (I) is most likely the harbinger to the root. Large numbers of youth belonging to these Islamic outfits visit Pakistan and are reportedly armed-trained by the ISI personnel at their Bangladesh camps located near Cox Bazaar and around Rongpur district. Though ULFA (I) is on the decline, but the recent mobilization of 'Islamic jehadis' around the world such as the on-going Palestinian problem, may give boost to the fundamentalist mobilization in Bangladesh as well as among Bangladeshi Muslim migrants in Assam, which is a huge matter of internal security threat for India. This will create a fertile soil for ISI for instigating subversion and terrorism strategically in India via Assam.
These are the mitigated risks and main intentions behind Paresh Barua's attempt to stall the peace-talks for years now. He may say that ‘sovereignty’ is the core value to sustain his position against the peace process, but his actions are of a man trying to sabotage his ancestor's homeland at all costs, that is deprived of any love and affection for his people and the motherland Assam.
Mrinmoy Baruah is a student at Northeast Regional Institute of Management(NERIM), Guwahati. Views expressed in this article are personal.
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