Ulfa leadership working closely with ISI, DGFI

NEW DELHI: Blowing the lid off Ulfa���s foreign linkages, a former commander of the banned outfit said that not only were its top leaders hobnobbing with Pakistan���s ISI and Bangladeshi spy agency DGFI, but its cadres were also training in camps on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, besides running an office in China.

���The top Ulfa leadership has close links with ISI, DGFI and some Islamic organisations. Without their support, it is not possible for anyone to run bases in Bangladesh,��� said Mrinal Hazarika, former chief of the Ulfa���s 28th battalion who has come overground with 150 other cadres after breaking ranks with the outfit.

Hazarika, while addressing newspersons here on Friday, confirmed that the top Ulfa leaders ��� including Paresh Baruah and Arabinda Rajkhowa ��� were mostly in Bangladesh, but also freely travelled to other countries.

He added that Ulfa was running several camps, offices and shelters on Bangladeshi soil, including some in cities. It was at these training camps, which were being run with the blessings of the official Bangladeshi agencies, that young cadres were trained by Ulfa���s own instructors.

Also admitting to Ulfa cadres being sent all the way to Pakistan for training, Hazarika disclosed that some of them were trained till two years back on camps dotting the Pakistan-Afghanistan borders. He, however, revealed that the cadres never got to know the affiliations of their Pakistani instructors, though they may have been from the ISI.
In another shocking revelation, the former Ulfa commander revealed that the outfit had a presence in China as well, running an office and also having ���other kinds of shelters��� there.

On the sources of Ulfa���s funds, Hazarika said extortion was the main fund-raising activity of the outfit, although it did have other channels of funding as well.

The 28th Battalion once commanded by Hazarika is one of the fierce wings of the Ulfa and has carried out several killings, abduction and extortions in the past across Assam.

Hazarika, who described his group as pro-talks, said his faction had given up the sovereignty demand in view of the stalemate since the last 30 years and was instead demanding complete autonomous council for ethnic and indigenous Assamese.