The killing of eight United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) activists last Tuesday in an encounter in Arunachal Pradesh is considered the biggest blow to the outfit since the December 2003 Bhutan operations. Operation Blazing Khukri was carried out by 7/11 Gorkha Regiment inside the dense Manabhum reserved forest in Arunachal’s Lohit district, adjoining Tinsukia in Assam. “ULFA has lost 44 members in the Upper Assam region alone since calling off the ceasefire on September 24 last year,” said Maj Gen NC Marwah, GOC of the Army’s Dinjan-based 2nd Mountain Division that is in charge of this region.Loss suffered by the ULFA, last Tuesday, included two self-styled corporals and two lance corporals (including a woman), all trained in Myanmar. “Apart from deaths, a large number of arrests and surrenders have also affected the group,” said Col P Saxena, the groundsman based at Kakopathar on the Assam-Arunachal border, carrying out operations against the militants. According to Army data, since the ceasefire was called off, the Army has also apprehended 81 ULFA activists in the past six months or more. As many as 88 militants have surrendered during the same period, while another 155, mostly workers and linkmen, have also been arrested.Pressure on ULFA has also increased following their attack on Hindi-speaking migrants, mostly labourers, in Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and other Upper Assam districts in January this year. “It is the 28th battalion of the ULFA which has suffered the most. Considering the fact that this battalion was once the most active, we can easily say that ULFA has been weakened,” said Marwah.
