'ULFA has no sense of direction: Tewari

Shillong, Mar 29 (UNI) Outgoing Meghalaya Chief Secretary S K Tewari today said the United Liberation Front of Asom(ULFA) had no sense of direction.

''ULFA have very little understanding of socio-economic issues in their own state. They have no grasp over what is happening in their society and they even lack the sense of direction,'' Mr Tewari said, while recalling his five-month-long captivity in ULFA hideouts.

Mr Tewari, who is retiring on March 31, recalled how he and a few others were abducted for ransom by ULFA militants in July, 1991, bargaining for the release of ULFA cadres from various jails in Asom.

''They kidnapped me along with a few others and demanded the release of 150 ULFA cadres who were in jails,'' Mr Tewari said in a voice choked with emotion.

''They kept shifting me to different villages of Nagaon and Kamrup districts during that period,'' he said.

The IAS official further recalled how the two engineers, who were kidnapped along with him, were killed by the ULFA militants, pressing the Asom government to release the jailed ULFA ultras.

''When the militants shot dead an engineer abducted along with me, I feared I would also meet with the same fate,'' Mr Tewari recalled.

''But, they called me 'uncle' and treated me well. When I asked for something, they obliged,'' Mr Tewari said.

However, he said the 150 ULFA cadres, who were lodged in different jails in the State, were released after negotiations and later the army launched an offensive operation against the proscribed outfit.

Soon after the government released the ULFA cadres, talks with the State government failed, the official said.

Mr Tewari said that while releasing him, the ULFA had wished him warmly and given him a sendoff gift.

Unlike others, after his release, Mr Tewari did not leave Asom.

''I stayed on till my appointment in Meghalaya in 1995,'' he said.

However, Mr Tewari said he did not develop a sympathy towards the ULFA as he neither understood what they were doing nor could appreciate what they said or did.

UNI