ULFA commander Paresh Baruah moves to China

Though there is no clarity on the reason for his visit,sources said Baruah,head of the military wing of the United Liberation Front of Asom,might have travelled to China in the hope of procuring some arms for his organisation whose avowed aim is to liberate Assam from India.

Baruah is known to have travelled to Bangkok and Pakistan in the past but this is probably his first visit to China.

His China visit comes at a time when the Awami League government under Sheikh Hasina has initiated a crackdown on the cadres of ULFA and many other Indian insurgent groups who have taken shelter in Bangladesh. Observers say Bangladesh under the Awami League — it took charge in December last year after a gap of more than seven years — is now becoming increasingly inhospitable for these groups which had been using it as a safe haven.

Just two weeks ago,the Bangladeshi government made high-profile arrests of two former Director Generals of the country’s National Security Intelligence in connection with a weapons smuggling case in which 10 trucks of arms and ammunition,shipped from China and apparently meant for the use of ULFA in Assam,were seized from the jetty of Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Limited in April 2004.

Major General (retd) Rezakul Haider Chowdhury and Brig Gen (retd) Abdur Rahim were picked up by Bangladesh’s CID in a pre-dawn raid on May 16 and are currently under police remand. The 2004 seizure of arms,while they were being unloaded from ships into the trucks,is the biggest ever catch by Bangladesh police and an eye-opener on how Indian insurgent groups were using Bangladesh territory,with generous support from some local anti-India politicians,to unleash terror in the north-eastern states.

About 1790 rifles of which 690 were AK-47s with provision to fix grenade launchers,2000 grenade launchers,25020 grenades,150 rocket launchers,840 rockets,and 1.1 million ammunition were recovered in the seizure. Barely a month later,on April 26,2004,the Bangladesh security agencies

intercepted another bus loaded with arms and ammunition close to Tripura border. That bus was said to have been released subsequently,reportedly on the instructions of Maj (retd) Syed Iskander,brother of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia who headed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government. Iskander is known to have links with Pakistan’s ISI.

The recently arrested officials,Chowdhury and Rahim,are said to be known to Baruah,according to another top NSI official Wing Cdr (retd) Shahabuddin Ahmed who was arrested by CID earlier in the same case.

In his confessional statement,Shahabuddin claimed that just before the arrival of the arms consignment Rahim,Chowdhury and some other government officials had met at Chowdhury’s residence to discuss ways to ensure its safe passage to India. He claimed that Baruah,disguised as one Ahmed,was present at this meeting.

Shahabuddin said Baruah had also accompanied Chowdhury during a visit to the Combined Military Hospital. Sources said they were not ruling out the possibility that these two officials had helped in arranging Baruah’s China visit.