NIA declares Paresh Barua, ULFA(I) chief Abhijit Asom absconders

The chargesheet was filed in connection with a case (No Rc-04/2013/NIA-GUW) which was registered on the basis of an MHA order of December 5, 2013, a press release issued by the NIA said. “The NIA has collected sufficient material, technical as well as circumstantial evidence against the accused persons during investigation and established the allegations against each accused person,” the press release said.

“Accused Paresh Barua @ Paresh Asom has been in Myanmar and Dr Mukul Hazarika @ Dr Abhijit Asom in the United Kingdom. They have been declared absconders and further action has been initiated,” the NIA press release said. Mukul Hazarika, a UK-based physician was appointed as chairman of the ULFA (I) faction – I standing for Independent – by Paresh Barua in 2010 after Arabinda Rajkhowa, then chairman of undivided ULFA, was arrested in Bangladesh and handed over to India.

The NIA press release, while mentioning various Sections of the IPC and UA(P) Act slammed against them, also mentioned various aliases of Barua and Hazarika. According to it, Paresh Barua’s other aliases include Paresh Asom, Kamruj Zaman Khan, Nur-uz-Zaman, Zaman Bhai, Pradip and Paban Barua, while Mukul Hazarika’s other aliases include Abhijit Asom, Abhizeet Asom and Abhijit Barman.

While the NIA chargesheet has slammed Sections 17, 18, 18A, 18B and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Sections 121A, 124A, 120B and 385 of the IPC against Paresh Barua, ULFA(I) chairman Abhijit Asom has been charged under Sections 18, 18A, 18B and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Sections 121A and 124A of the IPC.

Ridiculous, says Paresh Barua 

Meanwhile ULFA anti-talk faction leader Paresh Barua on Saturday described the NIA charges against him and his chairman as ridiculous and said that no measure adopted by the government of India would be able to bring them down to their knees.

“The colonial government of India has been trying to crush our movement by applying various laws. But no matter how many such laws it brings, they cannot bring us down to our knees,” Barua told a Guwahati-based television news channel over the telephone from an undisclosed location. Barua also said that the ULFA has been continuing with its movement for so long only because it was unwilling to accept Indian laws and Constitution.

“We have been carrying on this movement because we are not willing to accept the Indian Constitution and the laws framed under it. The colonial government cannot deflect us from our goal,” Barua said.