Assam: Major Offensive Operations Against ULFA

Calling off the six-week-old ceasefire, The Indian army has resumed military operations against the rebel outfit ULFA after the group stepped up attacks in the state and extortion demands.

The army was forced to launch an offensive after an extortion call by the ULFA against all non-Assamese in the state.

Meanwhile, the ULFA has asked all people in the North East except “indigenous” inhabitants to pay “taxes” to be fixed by the outfit. ULFA commander in chief Paresh Barua in a telephonic interview published in an Assamese daily here said all “Indians, barring the local inhabitants of the North East except Sikkim,” will have to pay the “scheduled taxes fixed by the organization which has already launched a tax collection operation.” Barua added, “All Indian businessmen, professionals and government employees who are residing in the North East will have to pay taxes and this will be fixed by ULFA.”

According to intelligence reports from the Assam police, various ULFA cadres travel to Pakistan via Bangladesh from where they return using the same route after training.