They normally come from the abjectly poor and unemployed sections of Assamese youth, those who are hard pressed to manage even one square meal a day, who look upon joining the outfit as a career option. Yes, as a career option! It has nothing to do with the high idealism of ‘liberating’ Assam from the ‘colonial’ rule of India, but an assurance that they will at least be able to subsist on a stomach full of rice and dal in the ULFA camps in Myanmar, which they find difficult to scrape up for themselves and their family.

The ULFA knows how to take advantage of these youth from the weakest section of Assamese society by recruiting them into their fold. Even at the time of recruitment, the outfit does not inform their prospective cadre about the hardships they are likely to face in the rugged jungles of Myanmar. There is a number of its cadre, who had been recruited by the ULFA on the pretext of working as security guards in Bangalore based firms. But ULFA leaders did not reveal this lie to the kith and kin of the unfortunate youth, even after their death in skirmishes with security forces. As for the youth who are recruited through such subterfuge, once they are herded to the jungles of Myanmar by the leaders and thoroughly brainwashed with anti-India propaganda, there is no escape for them. Even in the face of tremendous hardships while trekking miles after miles over hilly forested terrain, the prospect of drowning in rivers in spate during monsoons, and above all diseases like a particularly deadly form of malaria, the foot soldiers of ULFA normally do not even think of escaping from the camps. Why? Firstly, for those two square meals a day in the camps because they know, that a worse fate awaits them at their homes in Assam.

However, there are a few daredevils who, disgusted by the hardships, and more so by the pettiness of their leaders, try to escape from the jungles of Myanmar. What fate awaits them? You might have heard or read about Ratul and Siddhartha who surrendered to the Assam Police at Tinsukia on 19th November. They are the only two, who came out alive from a group of eight who made a bid to escape from an ULFA camp from deep inside the Myanmar jungles trekking days to reach the Arunachal Pradesh border. What happened to the six others? Were they too overcome by fatigue or lost their way inside the jungles? No! They were hounded by the blood thirsty leaders of ULFA, who caught them and murdered them in cold blood, with their hands tied behind their back and a bullet each at point blank range to their heads. Yes. The same ‘idealistic’ and ‘sanctimonious’ ULFA leaders who scream ‘human rights’ at the drop of a hat, are not ready to respect the human rights of their own cadre, most of whom, as I said earlier, have been inducted into the outfit through subterfuge by selling them dreams of a ‘comfortable life in Bangalore’.

While Paresh Barua, from the safety of his shelter somewhere in China, jet-sets around in posh environs of various South East Asian hotspots, where his ill gotten wealth ensures a good education for his children, the poor ULFA foot soldiers from Assam, who would be in the same age group as his elder son, take a bullet each to their heads from their own compatriots and colleagues. Incidentally, Paresh Barua rarely visits his camps in Myanmar. The hardships of camp life are obviously not to his liking.

While Paresh Barua and his followers pursue their dream of ‘independence’ from their comfortable perches they need the foot soldiers from the poor, innocent and gullible section of the Assamese youth, to keep their ‘insurgency business-empire’ running. And when some of these youth see through the game and want to opt out of it? Put a bullet through their heads. Simple! It is time for the youth of Assam to think again before choosing ULFA as a ‘career option’.

The 25th December issue of Times of India a leading news daily of the nation published a hair rising incident of execution of seven ULFA (Independent) cadre in its secret camp who tried to escape. The report has mentioned the execution of the seven cadre and said that this act of Baruah is a strong warning to others of his camp to prevent them from taking a similar step. The report has mentioned that the Assam Police had identified two cadres who managed to escape as Siddhartha Dahotia alias Agni and Ratul Bora alias Anupam. The lucky two crossed the border into India and surrendered to Tinsukia police. Soon after Agni and Anupam surrendered, Paresh Baruah’s publicity wing issued a statement saying that the nine cadres were moles planted in the outfit by intelligence agencies.

This is not an isolated incident where the cadre of ULFA have been butchered at the whim of the ULFA highest to fuel his insurgency trade and keep it running.

 Sushanta Roy