The proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) on Monday wrote to the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), stating that the organisation felt the alarm sent to Chief Minister Sarma, seemed to be unfortunate and misunderstood. The ULFA letter came a day after the SFJ, a pro-Khalistan group, threatened Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The letter by ULFA-I, signed by its chairman Paresh Baruah, urged the SFJ to refrain from issuing undesired remarks. The ULFA-I highlighted the generosity and customs of the indigenous people of Assam, who refrained from any mental or physical harassment of the Sikhs living in Assam and the West-South-East Asia (WeSEA) region in the aftermath of the Operation Blue Star in 1984.
The letter also mentioned that no Sikh had been killed or harassed in Assam or WeSEA during the killing of Sikhs in the aftermath of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination on October 31, 1984.
The Paresh Baruah-led faction of the ULFA also stated that even though there was a Congress government both in Assam and Delhi at the time, the political leaders of Assam abstained from making any negative comments against the freedom-loving Sikhs. The mentality of Assam and Assamese people remains the same, the letter read.
Baruah also mentioned that there was no question of torture of the eight people from Punjab, who were recently brought to Assam from Punjab and imprisoned in Dibrugarh jail. Eight of fugitive Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh’s close aides, including his uncle Harjeet Singh, have been lodged at Assam's high-security Dibrugarh Central Jail, after being slapped with the stringent National Security Act (NSA). "We have not seen any news that would indicate anything contrary to the customs of the indigenous people of Assam," Baruah wrote.
According to Baruah, the people of Assam "know the history of the Sikhs, love their revolution, and understand the essence of the freedom struggle". The ULFA-I urged the leaders of SFJ to remember the role of the political leaders and people of Assam in that terrible situation of the past and refrain from issuing such undesired remarks in future.
A person claiming to be Gurpatwant Singh Pannu of the separatist SFJ on Sunday called up a section of mediapersons based in Assam’s Guwahati and through them, advised Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to "stay out of the fight between pro-Khalistan Sikhs and the Indian government or face dire consequences".