Assam: ULFA denies HuJI links

The United Liberation Front of Assom on Thursday vehemently denied having any links with Bangladesh's Islamist fundamentalist group Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami, as reported recently by Stratfor, a United States think tank.

In a statement e-mailed to the local media, ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa refuted the allegation that the ULFA plans suicide attacks in coordination with the fundamentalist outfit.

The ULFA chairman called upon the US-based Stratfor not to misunderstand it and stated," The ULFA has been, in principle, opposed to fundamentalism and religious bigotry since its inception. It is not going to deviate from this avowed principle even in the time of the worst crisis."

The ULFA chairman pointed an accusing finger at the Research and Analysis Wing, accusing it of launching a slander campaign against it. The militant group accused the intelligence agency of deliberately linking its name to fundamentalists and communal groups to tarnish its image in front of the international community. The RAW was trying to "annihilation the freedom struggle of Assamese people,' stated ULFA.

However, the police and the Army, engaged in counter-insurgency operations across Assam, have been accusing ULFA of maintaining close links with fundamentalist organisations based in India's neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile, a senior police official dismissed the ULFA chairman's denial, claiming that the banned outfit was alarmed after the Stratfor report revealed its links with the HuJI.

In its latest report India: ULFA Abandons Peace Talks, Stratfor said that the most powerful separatist group in the north-east has announced that it is giving up the peace process and readying itself for a full-scale battle.

"India received a wake-up call to this threat from the north-east on August 25, when twin bombings occurred in the city of Hyderabad in southern India," Stratfor said.

"The two prime suspects in that bombing belonged to Bangladesh-based Islamist militant group HuJI, which is known to have a working relationship with ULFA and other north-eastern insurgent groups, and with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency," the think tank's report stated.

"The ULFA has begun to outsource operations to Islamist militant groups, including suicide attacks in the restive state of Assam," it added.