The Assam
Government has called out the Army to battle the United Liberation Front of
Assam’s (ULFA) terror campaign of bombing oil, pipeline, and other
installations and targeting civilian centers inviting the wrath of many
influential organizations. The ULFA has so far triggered 24 bombs since June 6
killing 8 people and injuring 60 civilians. The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU)
has condemned these attacks on civilians and the Journalists’ Union of Assam (JUA)
has strongly protested the threats issued against three writers.
The ULFA “Commander-in-Chief” Paresh Barua took credit for the bombing of
revenue installations claiming that the attacks are “marks of protest against
exploitation of natural resources of Assam by New Delhi.” However, he was
careful to distance his organization from the blasts that killed civilians. The
police was quick to highlight the sleight of hand and pinned the blame for all
blasts on the ULFA.
The ULFA has also threatened three senior writers in Assam saying that it will
not tolerate their relentless denouncement of the group and characterizing the
terrorist outfit as “irrational.” The ULFA claims that this criticism should be
construed as “anti-national activities.”