ULFA funding to Bangla political parties worth $6 m >From Kalyan Barooah
NEW DELHI, Feb 25 Already under pressure, the top ULFA leadership may find itself in a soup after a reputed US-based private intelligence agency exposed it of funding both the major national political parties in Bangladesh to the tune of $6 million, while commander-in-chief Paresh Barua's net worth has been estimated at $110 million. The report by Strategic Foresight Inc, better known as Stratfor, released on January 31 comes close on the heels of a report by Indian intelligence agencies, which exposed the militant outfit's close links with Bangladesh-based fundamentalist forces. ULFA leaders might find itself on a sticky wicket because the same Stratfor quoted senior State Department officials in Washington, in an earlier report, of keeping a close watch on ULFA's activities in Bangladesh. The Stratfor report said, besides the Islamist parties, the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party also are receiving substantial support from one of India's most prominent indigenous militant groups, ULFA. ULFA has developed into a powerful, moneymaking machine that relies on Bangladesh for its protection, making it all the more important for ULFA to ensure that its interests are satisfied in the upcoming elections. ULFA reportedly has pumped more than $6 million into Bangladesh's elections, with funds going to at least 15 candidates belonging to both the AL and BNP. By supporting both parties, ULFA is hedging its bets in order to protect its militant and business operations in Bangladesh should either party win. "ULFA's core leadership is believed to have been living in luxury in Bangladesh for 15 years under the protection of political allies in Dhaka. As long as ULFA can continue funding the appropriate candidates, it can ensure that the Bangladesh government will resist caving into Indian demands to crack down on the militant group," the report said. Clearly $6 million is a handsome contribution to be coming from an indigenous Indian militant group, but ULFA is no ordinary organisation. ULFA's leader is Paresh Barua, an enormously wealthy racketeer worth approximately $110 million. Barua has business operations throughout India, Bangladesh and the Persian Gulf, including hotels, consulting firms, driving schools, tanneries, department stores, textile factories, travel agencies, investment companies, shrimp trawlers and soft drink factories. A senior government official in Dhaka allegedly handles Barua's business interests in Bangladesh. The report that ULFA has turned itself into a money-minting machine assumes significance because of recent reports of the rebel outfit allegedly entering into compromise deal with State Government ahead of the National Games. Along with Barua's business empire, ULFA funds its militant activities through a sophisticated extortion network. Assamese tea companies and tea garden owners are continually faced with "pay up or die" threats from ULFA, yet the companies have preferred to stay quiet about ULFA's operations out of both fear and business interest, since tea prices have been on the rise. ULFA is well aware that New Delhi will not budge in its refusal to give into ULFA demands, so the group has focused its militant operations on bleeding Indian security forces in order to strengthen its negotiating position. The group has stepped up attacks in recent months by targeting Hindi-speaking citizens in Assam in order to force the Indian government to come to the negotiating table after a deal to release five of ULFA's jailed leaders fell through. ULFA and the Bangladeshi Islamist groups are not the only players with stakes in Bangladesh's elections, however. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency is heavily involved in supplying, funding and training an array of regional militant groups, including ULFA, Kashmiri militant outfits such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed and Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, all of which are known to cooperate with each other in weapons training and funding in spite of their varied ideologies. Though ULFA is likely to deny the report, it should be noted that Stratfor reports are well researched and, is rarely known to be influenced by external sources let alone foreign governments and intelligence agencies. Its impressive clientele is testimony to that. Significantly, a report by the Indian intelligence agencies weeks earlier said that ULFA has been further strengthening its links with Islamic radical organisation in Assam like the MULTA (Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam). The MULTA has contacts with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) of Bangladesh. The ULFA headquarters in Bangladesh has been working not only with intelligence agencies of Bangladesh, Pakistan and China but also with Islamic extremists forces. There are confirmed reports that weapons were procured by ULFA from China's Kunming province bordering Myanmar . The usual route was through the Kachin state of Myanmar. Arms also come through the Arakan areas of Myanmar and from the sea off Cox's Bazaar, to Chittagong . The ULFA sells their illegally imported arms to the smaller insurgent groups for a profit, reports indicate. The options for ULFA are getting limited day by day. If the ULFA leaders surrender to the Indian authorities, both Pakistan and Bangladesh's previous BNP government will be exposed as sponsors of international terrorism, the report said.
