Prove your report or quit Assam, ULFA tells NETV

Outfit says it hasn’t taken money from the state government to withdraw Games boycott

The ULFA today accused NETV, a Guwahati-based satellite news channel, of having run a story saying the outfit had taken money from the Assam government in lieu of letting the National Games pass off peacefully, and has asked the channel to close down if it cannot substantiate the story within a month.

ULFA armed wing chief Paresh Barua, in a statement issued through e-mail to newspaper offices here today, said NETV had on January 27 run a news item saying ULFA was willing to withdraw the boycott of the National Games by taking money from the Assam government. “We dare NETV to prove that the ULFA has taken any money from the Assam government in the name of our withdrawing boycott of the Games,” Barua said.

The ULFA leader also said that if the TV channel was unable to substantiate its claim, it should quit Assam within a month. “If NETV cannot prove that we had taken money then it should quit Assam within a month, failing which it will have to face dire consequences,” the ULFA commander-in-chief said.

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Reacting to this, NETV managing director Manoranjana Singh told The Indian Express that the news channel had never run any story saying the ULFA had taken money from the government. “We did run a story on January 25 and not on January 27 as claimed by the ULFA leader, that people in different circles were talking about the state government having managed the ULFA through a company in Kolkata and that the scale of violence was expected to come down till Games get over,” she said.

“My channel and I will continue to insist that there is an understanding between the Congress and the ULFA, and thus between the state government and the ULFA,” she said. On the ULFA threat, Singh said there was nothing to substantiate “as we had never run any story as alleged by Paresh Barua”. She said the police have been informed about the threat.

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