Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday invited the military chief of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I), Paresh Baruah, to visit Assam and spend at least a week in the state as a 'guest'. Briefing mediapersons on the sidelines of a programme in Tinsukia district’s Dhola, Chief Minister Sarma said, “Paresh Baruah is an educated and intelligent man. If he visits the state and stays for seven days, he will understand that Assam no longer remains the same. I have invited him as a guest and not for a truce. If he visits the state, he will understand that Assam has changed a lot.”
The elusive ULFA-I leader on an earlier occasion had clearly mentioned that the outfit would always stick to the issue of sovereignty. However, Chief Minister Sarma earlier this year had clearly stated that peace talks with ULFA-I will not be possible unless Paresh Baruah gives up his demand for sovereignty.
Sarma also stated that the people of Assam will have to exert moral pressure on Paresh Baruah to give up the demand for sovereignty. Sarma after assuming office in May 2021 had offered the banned organisation to come forward for talks.
Paresh Baruah, also known as 'Paresh Asom' and 'Kamruj Zaman Khan', is the military chief of the ULFA-I, which is seeking "Independence" for Assam from India. According to an intelligence report, Baruah lives in the Yunnan province of China, where he allegedly receives funding and patronage from the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).
MSS is the principal civilian intelligence, security and secret police agency of China. It is reportedly responsible for the country’s foreign intelligence, counter-intelligence and political security.
The ULFA-I is an armed separatist organisation operating primarily in Assam. Through an armed struggle, it seeks to establish an independent sovereign nation-state of Assam for the "indigenous Assamese people". The government of India banned the erstwhile undivided ULFA in 1990, citing it as a terrorist organisation, while the United States Department of State listed it under "other groups of concern".
The ULFA was notorious for bank robberies, extortions, kidnappings, assassinations, drug trafficking, mass killings through bomb blasts, and other crimes.