Pro-talk ULF calls 72 Hrs strike
Source: The Sangai Express / PTI
Tinsukia (Assam), August 24 2010:
The pro-talk faction of ULFA has decided to launch a 72-hour economic blockade from tomorrow in protest against alleged attempt by Arunachal Pradesh to encroach upon Assam's territory and incidents of violence by NSCN-IM militants.
Secretary of the pro-talk unit Jiten Dutta told reporters here that they supported the ongoing indefinite economic blockade against Arunachal Pradesh by All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and would launch a similar blockade on the Margherita-Changlang Road from 5 a.m tomorrow.
AASU and AJYCP had launched the blockade since August 21 near the Kherbari-Kanubari Road, Bimalapur-Longding Road and Joypur-Khonsa Road.
Dutta said that if NSCN-IM's threat that the economic blockade be lifted within 24 hours or else Assamese people residing in Arunachal Pradesh would be attacked was carried out then "we will also not spare the Nagas living in Assam".
"Moreover, NSCN-IM cadres who are supposed to stay in designated camps are moving about freely.
In that case, our cadres should also be allowed to move outside the designated camps," he said.
The government should "allow us to give protection to the Assamese people living along the Assam-Arunachal border if the police fails to give the necessary security", Dutta said.
NSCN-IM militants and some locals in Arunachal Pradesh have been allegedly involved in sporadic incidents of violence and exchange of fire with security forces in Assam since August 14 at Charaipung and Bimalapur in Assam's Sivasagar district.