NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
G Vinayak in Guwahati
The bitterness between the separatist outfits Bodo Liberation Tigers and the United Liberation Front of Asom has worsened further with the BLT condemning ULFA's opposition to the creation of an autonomous administrative set-up for the Bodos.
Reacting to an editorial in the ULFA mouthpiece Freedom, BLT vice-chairman Kamal Mushahary said, "The ULFA statement with regard to the creation of the proposed Bodo Tribal Council is parochial."
"The ULFA has issued the statement without understanding the ground realities in Assam," he said.
"This highly misleading statement may lead to aggravating the complicated ethnic balance in the state," Mushahary added.
Clarifying that their movement is a 'genuine struggle', not directed towards any particular community, Mushahary said that the indigenous people of Assam should be given the rights they deserve.
Coming down heavily on the ULFA, he said that the so-called revolutionary ideals of the former have lost relevance in the context of the ground realities of the state.
He also termed the ULFA leaders as mere stooges in the hands of anti-national elements like the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan.
The BLT also accused the ULFA of always being against the rights of the indigenous people of the state.
The BLT also decried the formation of the Sanmilita Janagoshtiya Sangram Samiti as an ULFA stratagem, and demanded the arrest of SJSS leaders under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for having links with the ULFA.
The SJSS has been spearheading the agitation by 19 non-Bodo organisations against the creation of the BTC.
The BTC, envisaged under the modified provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, has been proposed during talks between the BLT and the Centre going on since March 2000.
The BLT is currently observing a ceasefire with the security forces.
The ULFA and another Bodo militant outfit -- the National Democratic Front of Bodoland -- however, share bases and logistics in the jungles of southern Bhutan. The NDFB, which has a running rivalry with the BLT, has opposed the creation of the BTC.
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