The Assam Rifles’ press release which claimed that ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah was injured and his deputy Raju Baruah was killed in a shoot-out, which turned out to be incorrect, may provide the proscribed organisation a much needed relief. The indication that the banned outfit would try to derive as much as political mileage possible, was evident in the manner in which the ULFA leader reached the press to claim the that he was alive and kicking. He also denied that he was injured or his deputy.

Earlier, the Assam Rifles 21 sector which is an Army formation presently based in Tripura released a press statement signed by Major A. Bhargava for commander Brigadier B. K. Ponwar claiming that in a factional fight Raju Baruah was killed and Paresh Baruah was injured. The press statement also added that the ULFA armed wing chief was taken to Dhaka with high security cover for treatment.

The ULFA wasted no time in blaming the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Sources close to ULFA now claim that RAW masterminded two attacks on Paresh Barua. But on both occasions attacked the dummy convoy. To glorify its leader, the ULFA is now claiming the Barua’s security ring comprises over 200 highly trained militants, 20 per cent of whom are women. The ULFA came out with detail of the security cover for Paresh Barua. The ULFA claims that the security ring around him divided into eight parts and three identical convoys move whenever he travels.

Following the claims and counter-claims, some observers are of the opinion that the Indian authority masterminded an attempt on the two ULFA commanders and deliberately leaked the information to the press beforehand. But the attempt failed and the gun battle virtually hit back on the Indian authority. There are some others who are speculating that the whole episode was a ULFA misinformation campaign to discredit the Indian authority. They planned a fake encounter and then floated the rumour first and then blew it much to the chagrin of the authorities. Since there was already official confirmation of Chinese arms consignment for the North-East militants and commandos were deployed in the South Tripura and North Tripura districts bordering CHT in Bangladesh under Assam Rifles command, the presence of ULFA leaders was suspected from the beginning in the CHT.

There were already reports of an encounter in the CHT, Bangladesh, and the Assam Rifles official statement had lent credence to the floating information. Various ‘sources’ also came out with ‘intelligence inputs’ and at the same time hinted that the operation was master-minded by one senior officer (Addl DG of Operation G. M. Srivastav). It was indicated that there was some serious discontent in the top brass of the ULFA which ultimately resulted in the gun battle.

However, the ULFA, which is now on a killing spree after lying low for quite some time, will definitely try to regain some of its lost ground projecting their leaders as heroes to the Assamese people. An effort to this effect has already been started. It will be interesting to watch how the Centre and the Assam Government tackle the situation arisen after the faux pass made by the Assam Rifles
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