After lying low for a few months,the ULFA faction led by Paresh Barua is back in business: the outfit triggered a series of explosions across Assam over the past week and allegedly issued extortion notices to several persons,including a Congress MLA. The first blast hit Doomdooma,a business township that is home to,among others,a Hindustan Unilever Ltd factory,last Thursday. It was followed by explosions at Paltanbazar in the heart of Guwahati Saturday and at Bongaigaon in lower Assam hours after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi passed through the area Tuesday. The three blasts killed two persons,including a CRPF man,and injured more than 20. ULFA claimed responsibility for the first two blasts,but preferred silence over the Bongaigaon explosion,apparently because the police arrested the accused Manoj Rabha,allegedly an ULFA cadre less than half an hour after the incident. ULFA also reportedly sent extortion notices to a number of businessmen in upper Assam. In Sivasagar,it allegedly called up Congress legislator Debabrata Saikia,also a businessman,and asked him to pay Rs 30 lakh. I informed the police ADG,chief minister,Speaker and chief secretary immediately after getting the call on August 28. But even as the SP was instructed to take steps,I was surprised to find that there was hardly any action. So I have had to put up in a circuit house out of fear, Saikia told The Indian Express. SP,Sivasagar,A P Singh denied Saikias allegations. He said the MLAs security has been beefed up and efforts were on to locate the callers. The ULFA has not been able to make any major forays into the district except for gunning down a Village Defence Party volunteer last month. So they have been sending extortion notices or making calls to some people for money. But in most cases the people have refused to pay and instead informed the police, Singh said. He,however,admitted that some in interior parts were paying ULFA. We have reports of some people paying sums ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000, he said.
