Thaindian News

Guwahati, Dec 4 (IANS) United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and its deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah along with eight others, including family members, Friday surrendered before the Indian authorities in Meghalaya after Rajkhowa’s talks with the central government broke down.
Rajkhowa, his personal security guard Raja Bora and Baruah were later arrested by Assam police.

Among those who surrendered in Dawki at the India-Bangladesh border are Rajkhowa, his wife Kaveri and two children, Baruah, his wife and one child, Bora, and the wife of ULFA foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury and their son.

The surrendered ULFA leaders and their family members were brought to Guwahati by a helicopter and lodged at the 4th Assam Police Battalion headquarters in the city.

According to police sources, Rajkhowa, Baruah and Bora are expected to be produced at a local court in Guwahati later Friday, but their wives and children are unlikely to face the court.

The surrender took place at the Dawki border outpost of the Border Security Force (BSF) around 6 a.m.

“The group was loitering in the border area and then they contacted BSF commanders at the outpost saying they were from the ULFA and wanted to surrender,” a senior BSF official said.

The dramatic surrender, according to highly placed intelligence sources, was necessitated after preliminary talks between the ULFA leader and home ministry officials in New Delhi in the last two days failed with Rajkhowa adamant on their demand for sovereignty.

There were earlier reports that Rajkhowa was handed over by Bangladesh Police Special Branch sleuths to BSF officials and then the ULFA chairman was flown to New Delhi and lodged at an army base.

“Since the ULFA leader was adamant on holding talks on their core demand of sovereignty, there was no option but to show them as surrendered,” a senior official said, requesting anonymity.

That the surrender was stage-managed was evident when Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Thursday told a press conference in Guwahati that a “breakthrough” had been made and that the whereabouts of Rajkhowa would be known in “days or maybe hours”.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday told parliament that in the next few days there would be a political statement from the ULFA regarding talks.

Sasha Choudhury and ULFA’s self-styled finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika were last month handed over by Bangladesh police to the Indian authorities and then later shown as arrested while trying to enter India through the border along Tripura.