Is ULFA hardening the stand again?

The fugitive commander-in-chief of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam Paresh Baruah has claimed "moral victory" after the outfit's chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and military spokesman Raju Baruah said they had not surrendered and there was no possibility of talks with "colonial Indian government" if the issue of "freedom and sovereignty of Assam" is not on the agenda.

In a statement e-mailed to a section of media, Baruah said, "The statement and a huge gathering of freedom-aspiring people yesterday had exposed the conspiracy and drama enacted by the government over their arrest, besides registering moral victory for the ULFA."

He hoped, "The moral victory of yesterday will spur the struggle of  the freedom-aspiring people of Assam. Time has come for putting up joint resistance to design of the Indians to derail the freedom  struggle of not only Assam, but all the seven sisters of the region (North East). There is no alternative to region-wide joint armed  struggle as the Indian colonial rulers have failed to respect the birth  right of the people of the region."

The ULFA commander who is suspected to be taking shelter somewhere  along the China-Myanmar border said, "Shouting of slogans like 'ULFA  zindabad, long live ULFA, carry of the struggle' in front of the court was a proper reply to the misinformation campaign."