Anti-Paresh sentiments run high in Sivasagar
Source: The Sangai Express / TNN

Guwahati, January 18 2014 : Hundreds of people took to the streets on Thursday shouting slogans against Ulfa (Indepen-dent) leader Paresh Baruah at the outfit's birthplace in Siva-sagar.

On Friday, a thousand more gathered here to burn Baruah's effigy making it the first-ever mass protest against Ulfa since its birth in 1979.Several pro-talks leaders joined the gathering.

Adding more to the irony, top Ulfa commander Jiten Dutta, who is now a leader of the pro-talks faction, called his former commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah a coward for executing the outfit's assistant finance secretary Par- tha Pratim Gogoi.

This unprecedented event took place during the funeral of Partha, who was executed on Baruah's orders for "conspiring with Assam Police to engineer a mass surrender" .

"Baruah is a coward and executing Partha was the ultimate act of cowardice," Jiten said during Partha's funeral.

He added that Partha was in touch with the pro-talks group and exchanged views on the peace process in which the latter was engaged with the Centre.

"The common view in Ba-ruah's faction is that the day Anup Chetia (Ulfa general secretary living in Bangladesh jail) sets his foot on this soil, barring a couple of members, all others of the Ulfa anti-talks faction will join the pea- ce process.

Only Partha had the courage to spell out this view in public and he had even planned to press the leadership to convene the general council meeting where this proposal can be adopted.

He, however, paid a heavy price with his life for talking peace," Dutta said.

"If Paresh Baruah thinks he can change the minds of the members by killing Partha, he is living in a fools' paradise," Dutta added.

Partha's execution was carried out by his own colleagues at a jungle in Mon district of Nagaland, which borders Sivasagar district.

Partha's body with a bullet hole on his head was found by Nagaland Police.

Baruah's primary charge against Partha was that he was teaming up with Assam Police to stage a mass surrender and that he had been leaking information on locations of the outfit's camps and arms consignments to police and the Assam Rifles.

Chetia, who is also Baruah's cousin, has withdrawn his petition before Bangladesh Supreme Court seeking asylum in the country and has expressed his willingness to return home.

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