Rajeev Bhattacharyya’s account delves into all main episodes linked to the ULFA

New Delhi:

Pakistan armed and skilled the primary batch of insurgents of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in 1991-92, and despatched them again to India to stir hassle within the northeast area, in line with author and researcher Rajeev Bhattacharyya, whose newest work particulars the untold story of the outlawed separatist outfit.

Between 1996 and 2004, insurgents from outfits within the northeast such because the NDFB, PLA, and ATTF had been skilled at completely different places in Pakistan with a concentrate on assembling bombs by means of refined know-how, Mr Bhattacharyya says in ‘ULFA: The Mirage of Dawn’, based mostly on interviews with ULFA members within the northeast, Myanmar, Bangladesh, former officers engaged in counter-insurgency operations, in addition to papers of ULFA leaders.

“It is estimated that around a hundred rebel functionaries had received the training during this period. One ULFA batch was also taken to Tora Bora in Afghanistan for training. The modules offered to the rebel groups were of different durations, ranging from 17 days to three months,” Mr Bhattacharyya says within the e book.

“The first batch of ULFA militants was trained in Pakistan in 1991-92 in three groups comprising a total of about 40 functionaries. One group was trained near Peshawar and other functionaries were taken for short visits to Kandahar in Afghanistan and the arms bazaar at Darra Adam Khel near the Safed Koh mountains in Pakistan,” he says within the e book.

Pakistan’s Lieutenant General Asfaq Pervez Kayani, who was later appointed chief of the espionage company Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), interacted and shook fingers with a batch of ULFA functionaries once they had been present process coaching within the nation, Mr Bhattacharyya says. Lt General Kayani succeeded General Pervez Musharraf as Pakistan’s military chief in 2007.

Mr Bhattacharyya’s account delves into all main episodes, delineates their causes and results, and debunks interpretations in regards to the ULFA.

The half about ULFA (Independent) chief Paresh Baruah surviving 4 assassination makes an attempt in Bangladesh could be of nice curiosity to researchers.

“The first attempt was made at ULFA’s camp in Bangladesh’s Satcherri when an assassin was sent by Special Branch of Assam police to kill Baruah. However, he escaped from the camp before he could pull the trigger,” Mr Bhattacharyya says.

“The second attempt was made by a senior officer of the Assam Police, who got in touch with a criminal syndicate in Bangladesh to gun down Baruah, which failed. The same officer had also convinced an ULFA functionary turned mole named Munna Mishra to cross the border into Bangladesh and target Baruah. This attempt proved futile as well…” Mr Bhattacharyya says.

The fourth try was in Dhaka when a boulder was hurled by an unknown individual at Baruah at a crowded place within the automobile he was travelling. Baruah escaped unharmed, though the windscreen of the automobile was broken.