The proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam (anti-talks faction) on Thursday threatened the owner of a private satellite news channel based in the Northeast with its headquarter in Guwahati and asked him to either leave the state after closing down all his business or else face dire consequences.
In a statement e-mailed to the media in Guwahati on Thursday afternoon, the ULFA alleged that the television channel owned by industrialist Jaiswal and his family had tried to defame the outfit by misusing the electronic media by virtue of being its proprietor.
The outfit stated in one of the programmes, the channel recently branded ULFA as a mafia group similar to the one run by notorious gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
The outfit alleged that Jaiswal had tried to use ULFA to further his business purpose and after failing on that account tried to defame the outfit using the journalists working in his news channel.
The ULFA stated that though it had utmost respect
to the media, it would never allow anyone to misuse the media to further one's vested business interests in Assam and against the greater interests of the people of Assam and indigenous businessmen.
The insurgent group accused Jaiswal family of targeting business of local businessmen using the TV channel under its ownership.
It called upon the media persons working in the TV channel not to work for personal interests of its proprietor and instead work with dignity and objectivity to serve the greater interests of the people of Assam.
The outfit further alleged that Jaiswal showed audacity indentify eminent journalists working for his channel as his financial advisers.
There was, however, no official reaction so far from the channel or its owner to the ULFA threat.
Sources in the channel, however, informed that the owner of the channel who is an industrialist, did not comply with the extortion demand slapped by the ULFA in the recent past.