SUMMARY
ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) is an insurgent group operating in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam. The state of Assam is a patchwork of different ethnic, religious, tribal and linguistic groups, a condition that was exacerbated through vast flows of immigrants from Hindi-speaking states of India and Bangladesh at independence and during the India-Pakistan war of 1971 respectively. The perceived economical, political and cultural marginalisation of the indigenous Assamese in the face of this influx of immigrants is, as in many other north-eastern Indian states, a major political grievance. However, unlike many other insurgent groups in the north-eastern states this grievance is not the central issue for ULFA, whose primary goal instead is to establish an independent state of Assam. ULFA however views the influx of Hindi-speaking groups (such as Biharis) into Assam as a deliberate Indian strategy to colonize Assam with external ethnic elements.
ULFA was founded as early as 1979, but did not launch a large-scale insurgency campaign until 1990, when the group is first recorded in the UCDP state-based category of violence. The Assam Accord was signed in 1985 between the Indian government and the All Assam Students’ Union to resolve the grievances of the Assamese in regard to the immigration issue. ULFA was however not satisfied with the actual implementation of this accord, and in part launched its armed struggle in 1988 due to this, but with the broader goal of independence as an overarching factor.
The group was particularly dormant between 1979 and 1986, during which it step by step recruited youths into the movement, established bases, built up networks within the community and procured arms, before springing in to action in 1990. At the onset of the conflict ULFA enjoyed large-scale public support, primarily due to its ‘Robin Hood’ image as a group fighting a corrupt and paternalistic government. At one time ULFA presumably maintained an armed force numbering as many as 4000 cadres and thousands of people in a civilian network. Popular support however waned as the group began to become severely pressured by the Indian military and turned more and more against the local population by perpetrating abductions, extortion and acts of terror. Such tactics became common from the start of the new century. Due to this shift in strategy ULFA is recorded in both the battle-related and one-sided categories of UCDP data. It is possible that a shift in tactics also came about through the thousands of ULFA militants that surrendered to the government during the 1990s.
During its long existence in the insurgent-plagued north-east of India ULFA has maintained and cultivated relationships and/or operational links to a large number of other insurgent movements both inside and outside India. Notable rebels that have provided cooperation, training and arms procurement in tandem with ULFA include NSCN (National Socialist Council of Nagaland), KIA (Kachin Independent Army), NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland), ATTF (All Tripura Tiger Force ) and LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Other insurgent groups have also been implicated in cooperating with ULFA. In addition to cooperating with other insurgent groups some reports claim that ULFA has had received training, arms, funds and expertise from the Pakistani Intelligence Service (ISI), as well as its counterpart in Bangladesh. The exact type of cooperation with sovereign states is difficult to uncover, however it is clear that ULFA maintains bases in Bangladesh and Myanmar, and until 2003 had a large number of bases in Bhutan (these were removed by Bhutan’s army).
The group was founded by Bhimakanta Buragohain, Rajiv Rajkonwar, Golap Baruah, Samiran Gogoi, Bhadreswar Gohain and Paresh Baruah, with the expressed goal of establishing a “sovereign socialist Assam”. The group later evolved into having a political and a military wing (called Sanjukta Mukti Fouj), with one Arabinda Rajkhowa being the Chairman of ULFA and Paresh Barua leading the military wing as a Commander-in-Chief. The leadership was for a long time stationed in the jungles of Bhutan, before being ousted and relocating to Bangladesh.
ULFA has been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
