A day after Assam director general of police (DGP), Gyanendra Pratap Singh challenged the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) to target him, the banned militant outfit challenged him to roam free without security in Guwahati for a week.
ULFA-I triggered three grenade blasts near Army Camps in Assam’s Tinsukia, Sivasagar and Jorhat district between November 22 and December 13. While claiming the responsibility of the blasts, ULFA-I accused the DGP of considering the state police as his “ancestral property” and said that these blasts were warnings against the DGP.
“We do not have any enmity with the Assam Police. However, we warn GP Singh not to stake claim over the Assam Police as his ancestral property. He has given an identity of his arrogance which has hurt not only the sentiments of the officers/personnel employed in the Assam police but also the indigenous people of the state,” the outfit said in a statement last Sunday.
Gyanendra Pratap Singh Friday responded to this and said that if ULFA-I has problems only with him, they can target him instead of throwing grenades in public places. “My office is at Guwahati’s Ulubari and I stay at Kahilipara, I am there, they can target me directly, I’m not afraid of them,” he said.
The outfit’s self-styled captain Rumel Asom on Saturday released a statement challenging Assam DGP. He wrote, “GP Singh, while speaking to the media on December 15, 2023 gave us a challenge, we have accepted it on two conditions.”
ULFA-I wrote, “Firstly, use Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) or Indian Army (excluding youths of WeSEA region) instead of the state police officers and constables as driver and security officers. Secondly, roam freely around Guwahati for just one week if you can.”
Rumel Asom said that decades back, ULFA-I decided not to engage in clashes with the local officers, members of the Assam Police as well as the military officers, which includes people of the (WeSEA) region.
“Many officers died in our hands during the clashes triggered by senior cops like Daulat Singh Negi and RK Singh in the past. Those killed officers were our brothers, so we decided to avoid any further clashes. Now GP Singh is repeatedly trying to bring that conflict back, ULFA-I warns him to refrain from this,” Rumel Asom wrote.
ULFA-I said that Assam DGP has no courage to accept their challenge and also claimed that Assam police killed their unarmed members in the past.
“We know, you don’t have the courage to take on our challenge. You just know how to kill unarmed youths, like you killed Swadhinata Phukan,” they wrote.
In May 2000, arrested ULFA cadres Swadhinata Phukan was killed in police encounter in Jorhat and Gyanendra Pratap Singh was the superintendent of police of that district during that. ULFA-I has claimed that the police secretly took Phukan to a place at midnight, removed his clothes and killed him in the name of encounter.
However, no response has come from the DGP on the letter issued by ULFA-I on Saturday. HT reached out to Singh but he preferred not to respond.
Singh on Friday said that National Investigation Agency (NIA) will investigate the recent grenade blasts. According to people familiar with the matter, a team of NIA has reached Assam and they have visited Jorhat district.
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