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Identity controversy deepens in Assam massacres

Controversy has deepened over the identity of a militant group which claimed to be behind the three massacres that rocked the northeastern state of Assam last week.

Although the till now unheard-of insurgent group, Assam Tiger Force, has owned responsibility, police and the state government insist that the banned separatist outfit United Liberation Front of Asom was behind the dastardly killings.

The government in a statement, said the underground outfit in a bid to hoodwink the people had used the name Assam Tiger Force. "There is no such organisation and the government is in receipt of enough evidence to prove that," the statement said.

The controversy deepened when the ATF tried to implicate a local newspaper group, that had taken a tough stand against extremism, by printing the newspaper's phone number on their faxes to other dailies owning responsibility for the killing. The harassed newspaper group had filed an FIR Monday when the foul play was detected.

The state government also expressed apprehension of a tacit understanding between a political party demanding imposition of President's rule in the state and the banned militant outfit for creating large-scale disturbances before the ensuing general elections in the state.

"The mode of indiscriminate killing of innocent people without any reason and that too of certain particular communities at a time when the state is heading for a general election indicates that the massacres are a part of a well-calculated political design to malign the image of the State Government," the statement said.

UNI

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