Fresh `evidence' nails Bhutan for abetting ULFA in Assam

Fresh `evidence' nails Bhutan for abetting ULFA in Assam
SAMUDRA GUPTA KASHYAP

GUWAHATI, JULY 2: Documentray evidence cited in media reports has once again raised a suspicion that the Bhutan Government is secretly helping the ULFA and other rebel groups of Assam.

A leading Guwahati-based newspaper in Saturday's edition not only published copies of several official letters written by Bhutanese officials to prove the kingdom's role in militancy in Assam, but also pointed the finger at Lyonpo Jigme Thinley, Foreign Minister of the Himalayan kingdom who is also in charge of the Prime Minister's office.

The Sentinel has said the ULFA brought in a consignment of arms from Tibet to its hideouts inside Bhutan with the help of Brig. V Namgyal, security in-charge and Military Advisor to the King of Bhutan, in April last year. The Bhutan Government has always maintained that it isn't helping the ULFA or any other group in Assam.

The newspaper said it has evidence to show that Takin Travel Services, the Thimphu-based official travel agency of the Bhutan government, facilitates the travel of Paresh Barua, self-styled commander-in-chief of ULFA. Barua, has a Bangladeshi passport under the name of Kamruzzaman Khan. With it, he can freely hop to places such as Bangkok, Dhaka, Singapore and Thimphu. ULFA leaders are allowed to move freely inside Bhutan with the Department of Immigration and Census, which is under the Bhutan Home Ministry, issuing special permits.

The newspaper has said that the Bhutan government has specially assigned Wangchuk Dorji, a senior official in the Foreign Ministry, to help top ULFA leaders on fund collection and foreign travel. Dorji is stated to have received Nu 2,18,000 (Bhutanese currency) in three instalments from the ULFA during 1999, with which he even travelled to the United Kingdom.

The report has said that Dorji used his official position as Diplomatic Mail Bag In-charge to help ULFA leaders in Bangkok and Dhaka ferry dollars and other documents through diplomatic mail into Bhutan.

On May 17, Bhutanese Foreign Minister Thinley had announced in Dhaka that his government had warned it would expel ULFA rebels by force if they refused to withdraw peacefully. Thinley had said that the Bhutan government had held two meetings with senior ULFA leaders and asked them to fix a date for another meeting, probably the last, to fix a deadline for withdrawal.

``We cannot wait indefinitely. We are getting ready to expel them by force if needed. Their (ULFA's) presence is a direct threat to our security and sovereignty,'' a PTI report had quoted Thinley as saying in Dhaka.