Garbage!
Look at the guy's SPIN:
>The "fake encounter" drew public attention when a man from
Laopati village in
Tinsukia district fell victim to the circumstances.
He must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed bringing bad luck
to himself!
>"The killing of Budheswar Moran was unfortunate," said
Major-General NC
>Marwah, GoC, Second Mountain Division.
*** Tsk, tsk! How terrible these folks are, complaining even after
Marwah's apology.
Somehow military 'oopses ' must be MORE honorable than ULFA's. Isn't
that what it meansd?
At 6:12 AM -0600 5/31/07, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
What about this C'da?
_
Ulfa shifts focus, asserts 'gallantry'
Nava Thakuria
THE Ulfa has returned to its pet agenda of challenging the armed
forces. Its military spokesman, Raju Baruah, has warned security
forces of dire consequences if they did not stop killing its
"unarmed members" in bogus encounters.
In the 1980s, the Ulfa projected an image of being an "enemy to the
crooked, friend to the deprived". But it slowly tarnished this image
when its cadres began targeting journalists, social activists and
political workers who were critical of its activities. There are
instances of sophisticatedly armed Ulfa cadres misbehaving with and
killing people, not even sparing women and children. All the time
the Ulfa leaders followed the principle that "if you are not with
us, you must be with the enemies".
The local population began losing faith in the outfit, as was clear
from reports in the local media. The mindless killing of innocents
and bomb blasts carried out by its cadres at crowded places made it
difficult for the people to understand Ulfa's primary objective of
garnering public support for its cause.
The leaders, of course, had tried their best to generate support on
various occasions but failed. In a recent "fake encounter" in upper
Assam, where the stage was set for a perfect anti-Army ambience, the
outfit stepped in and appealed to the people to join in the move.
Taking a cue from the killing of a young man by the security forces,
the locals decided to block the National Highway, where thousands of
others joined in to raise their voice against the excesses by
security personnel. But soon the situation turned ugly for Ulfa with
the arrival of a group of people from nearby tea gardens.
Initially, it was a series of heated arguments between Ulfa
sympathisers and the group of tea garden workers who had become
unnerved when the supplies of essential commodities was stopped
following the blockade and finally clashed with them. Eight people
were killed and 25 injured. When the situation worsened, the
administration sought help from Tinsukia.
The "fake encounter" drew public attention when a man from Laopati
village in Tinsukia district fell victim to the circumstances.
Twenty-four-year-old Buddheswar Moran, a watchman in a local tea
plantation, was killed by security personnel at midnight of 5 May.
These personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles initially claimed
Buddheswar was associated with the Ulfa, but locals denied this and
later the Army admitted that Buddheswar had no link with the
underground group. It even apologised for the unfortunate incident
and ordered a probe. "The killing of Budheswar Moran was
unfortunate," said Major-General NC Marwah, GoC, Second Mountain
Division.
The public resentment even compelled the state governmenti to ask
the security forces "not to commit excesses and ensure basic human
rights of civilians" during counter-insurgency operations. Dispur
also ordered an independent probe.
Meanwhile, a large crowd assembled at Dhola on NH 37 to protest
against Buddheswar's killing. Shouting anti-Army slogans, the
villagers started an indefinite blockade of the highway on 7 May.
Some in Kakopathar and Doom Dooma also protested. The Ulfa lost no
time in lending its support. "The mounting anti-Army agitation
justifies our stand that the Army has unleashed a reign of terror in
Asom," claimed Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa.
However, the situation became murkier after a group of tea workers
appeared. They asked the agitators to lift the blockade so that
trucks could bring in essential supplies. The two groups clashed on
13 May at Tiphuk. The Assam Tea Tribe Students' Association
supported the community, saying they were not against the agitation
to condemn the Army excesses but to oppose the demonstration.
"Putting up a blockade on a primary road for more than a week is
enough for the tea labourer families to get annoyed," said ATTSA
president Prahlad Goala and secretary Padmalochan Das in a press
statement.
As the Ulfa leaders failed to gain anything from this, they started
targeting migrant labourers in the locality. In two days (15-16
May), its cadres killed nine Hindi- speaking workers in upper Assam.
(The author is a Guwahati-based journalist)
___
assam
