GUWAHATI: The freezing of the Calcutta bank accounts operated by two United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militant sons Friday was a major setback. The chief minister of the northeastern area of Assam, Hitestwar Saikia, announced that both the center and his government were ready for talks with the banned outfit Saikia, on his return from Delhi during the day, told newsmen that the prime minister had assured him that the center was ready for parleys within the framework of the constitution if the ULFA moved forward formally.
At Calcutta, interrogation of ULFA collaborators, Raj Barua, his wife Dolly, Golap Borbora, ULFA secretary and “in charge of home and foreign affairs” and Prabhat Saikia, a Delhi based in dustralist arrested on Monday night from a guesthouse, revealed that the ULFA was using the metropolis as a base for international activities official source said. “The money in the accounts of the Barua couple had been extorted by the ULFA in Assam, the Sources said, and the militants in connivance with certain persons. In Delhi were trying to convert several millions of rupees into foreign currency to purchase arms and ammunition from abroad 10 fuel insurgency in the state. Golap Barua had confessed that he had been to Delhi recently to arrange for the conversion of Indian rupees to U.S. dollars and make arrangements to pay a Singapore based arms supplier for shipping munitions to Assam, Meanwhile, the army and Assam police rounded up 66 suspected ULFA activists since Thursday night, official sources said, The army also seized some arms and ammunition.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 29, 1991
