'Ulfa funding Bangladesh parties'

The United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) is said to have funded major political parties in the forthcoming Bangladesh elections with contributions of over $6 million, according to a US think-tank.

The banned organisation has made available funds for at least 15 candidates belonging to both the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League, the think-tank Strategic Foresight Inc said.

The organisation held that the Ulfa was “hedging its bets in order to protect its militant and business operations in Bangladesh should either party win”. A report compiled by Strategic Foresight on the political situation in Bangladesh, with general elections expected later this year, said the Ulfa’s core leadership is believed to have been living in luxury in that country for 15 years “under the protection of its political allies in Dhaka”.

The organisation, also known as Stratfor, said, “as long as Ulfa can continue funding the appropriate candidates, it can ensure that the Bangladesh government will resist caving in to Indian demands to crack down on the militant group.”

According to analysts, Ulfa has been leaning heavily on Bangladeshi and Pakistani intelligence agencies for arms, training and safe havens. Some experts point out that it is this dependence that has led them away from their original campaign against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam (when they started in the 80s), and made them target Hindi-speaking labourers from other parts of India who come to Assam in search of work.

The Stratfor report observed that six million dollars was a “handsome contribution” coming from an Indian militant outfit, and then went on to say that the Ulfa was “no ordinary organisation”. Its chief Paresh Barua was “an enormously wealthy racketeer worth approximately $110 million” with business operations throughout India, Bangladesh and the Persian Gulf.

The business interests, Stratfor said, included hotels, consulting firms, driving schools, tanneries, department stores, textile factories, travel agencies, investment companies, shrimp trawlers and soft drink factories. “Mr Barua’s businesses in Bangladesh are allegedly handled by a senior government official in Dhaka,” Stratfor claimed.

According to the think-tank, the Ulfa funded its militant activities through “a sophisticated extortion network”. It noted that major tea companies in Assam continuously faced pay-or-die threats, but preferred to stay quiet both out of fear as well as due to business interests.

It noted that the Ulfa had “increasingly become more concerned with its financial interests”. It was also aware that New Delhi would not budge in its refusal to give in to the group’s demands and therefore was focusing its militant operations to bleed the security forces in a bid to strengthen its negotiating position.

This comment was in reference to the recent attacks against migrant workers by the Ulfa in which more than 60 labourers, mostly from Bihar, were shot dead.

The report said that beside Ulfa, Bangladeshi Islamist groups and Pakistan’s ISI were the other players with stakes in Bangladesh. “As long as India’s militant-rich, porous borders remain, Pakistan can continue to hamper Indian ambitions to step beyond its backyard and become a truly global power,” Stratfor said.