ULFA deadline to PM, 'routine threat' says police chief

Guwahati, Nov 27: The ULFA(I) on Thursday set a 45-day deadline to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ahead of his two-day visit to Assam, to provide information about its 26 members missing since the 2003 Bhutan operation but the state police chief dismissed it as a "routine threat".

ULFA(I) chief Paresh Barua in a statement e-mailed to PTI said, "we demand that the information is provided to us by January 10, 2015 or else we will launch an armed resistance against the BJP and foil its dream of achieving 84 assembly seats in the next polls."

Assam Director General of Police Khagen Sarma told reporters here, "the ruling party usually gets such threats. The ruling establishment is always an enemy of the militants".

"Paresh Baruah has his own interests. His statements are issued with purpose," Sarma said. The Prime Minister is scheduled to arrive here on a two-day visit to Assam from November 29 and the ULFA(I) leader said, "on the eve of his visit we demand information about missing cadres as both their family members and the outfit are entitled to know whether they are alive or have been killed".

The DGP, when asked about ULFA's striking capability, said, "it is much less than earlier. Capability is minimum".

"Militants try for hard selective targets and if they fail then they go for soft targets. Assam police has graduated to coping with the challenges. We are giving emphasis on increasing our area domination," Sarma added.

He said ULFA and NDFB have not re-established camps in Bhutan after 'Operation All Clear in 2003', "but ULFA has camps in Bangladesh's Mymensing and Chittagong areas".

PTI