GUWAHATI, May 16 - Commander-in-Chief of the United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent), Paresh Baruah has been contacting the old cadres of the outfit, who are either not involved with the peace talks or not satisfied with the progress of talks to win their sympathy. To deal with the issue, all the district Superintendents of Police have been directed to keep a close watch on the activities of the former militants.
Highly placed police sources told The Assam Tribune that the ULFA(I) leader started frequently calling some old cadres about a couple of months back. �The interesting fact is that some old cadres, who were not in touch with the ULFA(I) commander-in-chief for 15 to 20 years, started receiving calls from him in recent times. It is a fact that he is not asking them to rejoin the outfit and in most cases, Baruah only asked them what they are doing now and enquired about their families and their condition. But the sudden move to call up old cadres after so many years is a matter of concern,� sources admitted.
Sources said that after receiving such calls, some old members of the ULFA may get motivated to work for the outfit in different ways like providing shelter to cadres of the outfit. In fact, on the ULFA raising day on April 7, some old cadres were involved in hoisting flags of the outfit and one person who left the outfit more than two decades back, was arrested in Nagaon for hosting a flag of the ULFA.
Police admitted that all the old cadres are not involved in the peace talks and some are not happy with the progress of talks. �We have learnt that some cadres told Baruah that they were not happy with the peace process. Some even went to the extent of saying that only the leaders were benefitted from the peace talks and the lower level cadres were facing hard time to survive,� sources said and admitted that the ULFA(I) may try to win the sympathy of such disgruntled elements.
Sources said that all the pro-talk group members of the ULFA are not staying in the designated camps. It is a fact that the leaders of the pro-talk faction would not try to help the ULFA(I) but the possibility of lower level cadres helping out the militant outfit cannot be ruled out, sources added. All the district SPs have been directed to keep watch on the designated camps and activities of the former militants.
Meanwhile, there were inputs that the ULFA(I) was desperate to indulge in acts of violence to make its presence felt and all the district police forces were alerted. But there is no input of any action group of the outfit entering Guwahati city. Police and security forces are aware that a few small groups of ULFA(I) are moving around in Assam-Arunachal border areas, but there was no information of any group entering the city, sources added.
