ULFA (I) accepts Assam DGP's challenge to target him 'on two conditions'

Following the recent grenade blast in the Jorhat camp of the Indian Army, Assam DGP Gyanendra Pratap Singh on Friday interacted with media telling the Paresh Baruah-led faction to stop hurling grenades “here and there to terrorize the innocent civilians and target Assam DGP headquarters and his residence in Kahilipara of Guwahati. To this, the ULFA (I) said it has accepted the challenge issued by the Assam DGP on 15th December.

Guwahati: The war of words between Assam Director General of Police Gyanendra Pratap Singh and the outlawed group United Liberation Front of Assam has escalated following the recent grenade blast in Jorhat camp of the Indian Army. At a press conference on Friday, Assam DGP Gyanendra Pratap Singh said that the Paresh Baruah-led faction should stop hurling grenades “here and there to terrorize the innocent civilians and if they have the guts they should target the Assam DGP headquarters and my residence in Kahilipara of Guwahati”.

In a fresh press release, the banned outfit has given its response to the head of Assam police’s challenge by saying that it has accepted the challenge issued by the Assam DGP on 15th December, “on two conditions”. The statement said that, firstly, GP Singh should deploy CRPF or Indian Army personnel [excluding youths of WeSEA region] in place of the local police officers and constables [youth of WeSEA region] who have been assigned by Singh as his driver as well as for security covers.

“Secondly, the DGP must show the courage to roam freely in Guwahati for at least one week,” the ULFA (I)said in the press release. Citing some previous examples from the past, where several locals serving in the police and security forces had lost their lives during the clash between ULFA (I) and security forces, the statement said that the organization “does not want to shed blood of the local youths”.

“But the DGP is provoking to make it a clash between indigenous people,” said the ULFA. The episode has taken the limelight following the war of words that began on Friday, when ULFA (I) claimed responsibility for the Dec 14 Jorhat grenade blast and also asked DGP GP Singh to “stay aside from the India-Assam conflict” calling it a “political issue that requires political solution”.