ULFA to attack \\\'Bengali-speaking migrants\\\'

The anti-talk faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA-I), led by Paresh Barua, has for the 1st time warned it will use weapons against Bengali-speaking migrants it dubs as ‘Bangladeshis’. In two recent explosions in Assam’s frontier district of Goalpara, the ULFA has actually killed three Bengali speaking people last week. Another Bengali speaking man was also killed by suspected ULFA rebels in northern Assam last week, apparently for spying for the police. The ULFA(I), in a statement, came down heavily on the state government for deciding to request the Centre to frame a policy for granting asylum to people who have fled religious persecution and discrimination and have taken refuge in India on humanitarian grounds. The Assam cabinet took the decision a couple of days ago in what was seen as an attempt by the Congress led government to upstage the BJP which has done better than the ruling party in India’s parliamentary polls. The banned outfit alleged in a press statement: ‘The decision has been taken putting at stake the rights and interests of the indigenous people of the state. Only mentally unsound people can take such decisions. Political ambition is clearly behind such a decision. It has been done with the intent to lure the Bangladeshi vote bank towards the party and grab power,’ ULFA(I) said, according to bdnews24.com.