The United Liberation Front of Asom was perpetrating violence against Hindi-speaking people in Assam at the instigation of India's enemies, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on Thursday.
"The killing of six people in Dibrugarh and Sibsagar districts by the ULFA has demonstrated that the enemies of the country are prompting them to resort to such acts," Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati.
"They are not interested in the peace and prosperity of Assam or in finding a final and peaceful settlement to their problem," Gogoi aid.
Referring to Sunday's killing of five protestors who had blocked NH-37 in a clash with tea garden workers at Doomdooma in Tinsukia district, Gogoi blamed the incident on the ULFA and leaders of the People's Committee for Peace Initiative in Assam, an overground body of organisations sympathetic to the banned group.
"I am not blaming the innocent protesters, but the ULFA and PCPIA leaders for instigating the demonstrators leading to violence there," Gogoi said.
Asked why he had not visited the protestors, who wanted to speak to him about the killing of a villager by the army after he was mistaken for an ULFA militant, Gogoi said, "As a chief minister, it is not possible for me to go wherever there is an incident."
Gogoi said there was no justification for the protests to continue after two ministers were sent, compensation was announced for the villager's family, the army apologised and an inquiry was ordered into the incident.