May 11: Grabbing the opportunity to project itself as more sinned against than sinning, Ulfa today said there cannot be a more legitimate reason than the death of Budheswar Moran in a “fake” encounter for the government to boot out its tormentor — the army — from Assam.

Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa’s emailed statement came even as nearly 10,000 people, double the number that turned up yesterday, blocked National Highway 37 in Doomdooma to demand punishment to the soldiers who gunned down Budheswar last weekend.

The army maintained for the first four days after the “encounter” that the slain youth was an Ulfa militant.

The snowballing protests forced Maj. Gen. N.C. Marwah, general-officer-commanding of 2 Mountain Division, to admit on Wednesday that the army team had erred in gunning down Moran.

The Ulfa chairman said the intensity of the anti-army campaign vindicated his organisation’s demand for the army’s ouster.

He said the army and the government had yet again “staged a fine drama” of going to the victim’s family and seeking forgiveness with folded hands.

At the site of the highway blockade, the anger and aggression of the protesters seemed to increase.

“Inquiries will not do,” said Lachit Bordoloi, a senior functionary of the People’s Committee for Peace Initiatives in Assam. “They cannot go on killing people and then order inquiries...such killings must stop.”

The protesters insisted on chief minister Tarun Gogoi visiting them to give a personal guarantee that security forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations would be reined in.

Addressing the gathering on NH 37, Bordoloi said it was surprising that the chief minister had not shown any respect for the sentiments of the people. “The only way to end this vicious cycle of violence is by resuming the dialogue between the government and Ulfa. It is quite unfortunate that the chief minister has turned his back on people campaigning for peace,” he added.

Parts of eastern Arun-achal Pradesh are facing a shortage of essential commodities, including fuel, because of the continuing road blockade.