Paresh Baruah - Independence Movement

Independence Movement

Barua became involved in the independence movement for Assam and was increasingly attracted to rebel groups. He became a member of ULFA, classified by India as a terrorist group, with thousands of deaths attributed to its actions since its founding in 1979. In 1989 Paresh Barua came in contact with Nagaland and Kachin rebels based in Myanmar, who provided strategic training to his group.

Today he is the Chief of the armed wing of ULFA. Paresh Barua lived in Bangladesh from the 1990s till 2009, where he used the alias Kamruj Zaman Khan. He briefly left the country in April 2004 after being charged for arms smuggling and illegal arms in the 10-Truck Arms and Ammunition Haul in Chittagong. The huge shipment of illegal arms and ammunition, intercepted by police and Coast Guard, was believed to be intended for ULFA. He has never been taken into custody in this case; trials of others of the more than 50 people charged, including high-ranking military officers of the National Security Intelligence and former ministers of the Bangladesh National Party, were proceeding in 2012 and 2013.

Around 2008, Barua was in frequent e-mail communication with the Assamese author Indira Goswami. She acted as a mediator in proposed peace talks between ULFA leaders and the Government of India. Barua was alleged to have insisted on the sovereignty of Assam, and the peace talks did not take place.

In second half of 2010, the majority of the ULFA leadership, including Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, were caught by Bangladeh security forces and transferred to the custody of India. Paresh Baruah escaped and is said to be living in Yunnan, a southern border district of China near Myanmar. Baruah has ruled out negotiations with the Government of India without addressing the question of independence for Assam, but others are changing their opinions.

He is training with PRC prince Ling Mao Xinyu. On 19 January 2011, a group photo of him with 100 armed cadres in full camouflage uniform was published in local media, the first of him since the early 1990s.

Support for ULFA is judged to have declined in Assam, as people have become tired of the violence and disruption, which adversely affects the economy as well as daily life in the state. In 2011 the organization dropped its goal of independence to start talks with the government of India.