ULFA chief alleges his son has been abducted

New Delhi: United Liberation Front of Asom 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Baruah on Thursday alleged that his son has been kidnapped from his school in Dhaka. In an e-mail sent to media groups in the Northeast, Paresh Baruah claimed that his son Tahsim alias Akash Khan, a student class 9 at Notre Dam Convent School in Dhaka has been kidnapped to force him to surrender.

"By kidnapping my son, some agencies are trying to put pressurise me to surrender and divert me from the organisation's ideology and objective," Paresh Baruah said.

"But this will not work. Thousands of young men and women have died fighting for Assam's independence and if my son may join that long list of martyrs. If that happens, I will be prepared for it," the ULFA chief said in the e-mail.

Sources say Paresh Baruah's son has been kidnapped by Dristhi Rajkhowa on orders of Raju Barua, ULFA's 'deputy commander-in-chief, who has a running feud with the ULFA chief.

However, Paresh Baruah did not provide any details about when his son was kidnapped nor, though he broadly alluded to "an Indian conspiracy".

But the statement attacked some senior ULFA leaders, who, Baruah alleged, were now "throwing all ideals to the wind" and trying to start the negotiations with India.

ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who was arrested in Bangladesh last year and handed over to India, is also likely to be let off soon as the Assam government has not opposed any of his bail petitions.

Sources say Baruah, who is against any peace talks with India, has been steadily losing supporters.

Two months ago, 22 ULFA activists crossed over to India to surrender.

Bangladesh's Awami League-led coalition government has arrested more than 50 rebels from India's Northeast who were staying in that country and handed them over to India since early 2009.

The arrested rebels include many top leaders like ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, Bodo rebel chief Ranjan Daimary and Manipur's UNLF chief Rajkumar Meghen.

But Paresh Baruah is said to have escaped to somewhere in Southeast Asia. His wife Bobby Baruah alias Sufia Begum and son Tahsim Baruah alias Akash Khan were said to have been left behind in Dhaka.