ULFA pro-talk leader says Bangladesh has backstabbed movement

Guwahati, Dec 11 (ANI): Mrinal Hazarika, the leader of a pro-talk faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has said that Bangladesh has "betrayed" and "backstabbed" them, after the group's top leaders recently landed in the net of Indian security forces close to the border.

Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Hazarika said: "The Bangladesh government has stabbed ULFA because for so many days Arabinda Rajkhowa, the self-styled chairman of ULFA was in Bangladesh but now they held talks with India and handed over him to India, definitely we feel betrayed."

Rajkhowa was arrested after he turned up near India's border with Bangladesh and produced before a court in Guwahati on December 5.

In less than a month, the ULFA has been dealt a body blow with the arrest of the group's top leaders including Rajkhowa Raju Baruah, Chitraban Hazarika, Sacha Chaudhary. Only the group's military commander, Paresh Barua, who police believe to be in hiding somewhere along Myanmar-China border, still remains elusive.

The ULFA, which demands independence for the tea and oil-rich Assam, is biggest insurgent group, running a three-decade-old campaign that has killed some 30,000 people.

Though the ULFA"s military strength has waned, it still has capacity to organise attacks. At least six people were killed and 40 wounded in two bomb blasts in Assam last month. (ANI)