GUWAHATI, JULY 7: Three senior ULFA leaders - self-styled ‘Captain’ Mrinal Hazarika, and ‘Company Commanders’ Jon Sonowal and Mun Bora alias Jiten Dutta — have been expelled from the outfit for initiating a dialogue process with the Government without any sanction from the top leadership, a statement issued by ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajhkowa said on Monday.

The statement, emailed to newspaper offices, said the three had started a dialogue process with the “colonial government” of India without any consent of the ULFA. As such, they had committed a crime of going against the constitution and policy of the outfit.

Only two weeks ago, the three had announced a “ceasefire” with the Government through a fax, at the same time asking the top ULFA leadership to come out and hold unconditional talks with the Government. Of the three, ‘Captain’ Mrinal Hazarika, self-styled commander of the ULFA’s 28th Battalion who was arrested from Siliguri in December 2006, was released on bail only last month.

Hazarika, who teamed up with ‘A Company Commander’ Jiten Dutta and “C Company Commander” Jon Sonowal to declare the ceasefire, has been holding consultations with various individuals and organisations, including the All Assam Students’ Union and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva-Chatra Parishad, in the state capital for the past few days.

However, the trio invited the wrath of the outfit only on Sunday when Hazarika made a public statement, declaring Bangladeshi infiltration as a major problem for Assam. “The burning problems of Assam are definitely more important than internal discipline of the ULFA,” Hazarika had said.