Three Assam youth missing, suspected to have joined ULFA(I), says police

Three more youth from Assam have left to join ULFA(I), the banned militant outfit, recently, Assam police said.

According to officials, Hriday Sarkar from Golakganj in Dhubri district of lower Assam along the border with Bangladesh left his home on January 15, as the state celebrated Bhogali Bihu, the annual festival of harvest and feasting.

“He sent a text message to his family saying he has left to join the ULFA(I),” said Longnit Terong, Superintendent of Police, Dhubri.

Pallab Bhattacharyya, Director General of Police, in-charge of special branch, the intelligence wing said Sarkar has indeed left to join the militant outfit. “He has gone with two others. We are still trying to identify the particulars of the other two,” he said.

A police official in Dhubri said the other two came youth come from Dhemaji and Goalpara districts.

Sarkar (27) graduated from a local college in Dhubri and was unemployed, according to Terong.

Bhattacharyya said the police had been following “but they still managed to travel to Mon in Nagaland”. Mon is on the border with Myanmar where the militant outfit has its camps. “We informed the authorities in Nagaland but they could not be apprehended,” said Bhattacharyya.

Assam and other North East states have seen another spate of protests since Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by Lok Sabha earlier this month.

Bhattacharyya said, it is yet not clear if that was the reason why the three youth decided to join the militant. However, the official from Dhubri said “the timing is significant.”