A rebel camp in Myanmar

Guwahati, Oct. 17: A day after the wife of a top Ulfa leader revealed her miraculous escape from an Ulfa camp in Myanmar, security forces said wives of several other Ulfa leaders and cadres were also “being held captive” by the outfit’s leadership.

A senior army officer based in Upper Assam today said they have got “SOS messages” from some other Ulfa members’ wives with a plea to help them escape from captivity.

Monalisa, wife of peacenik Maradona Russell, yesterday said she had been held captive in the Myanmar camp after her husband joined the peace process recently.

Monalisa, helped by the Military Intelligence Unit (MIU), fled the camp and trekked for three days through the treacherous jungles of Myanmar to reach Pangsu Pass in Arunachal Pradesh where her husband was waiting with an MIU team to receive her. She was subsequently taken to Dibrugarh.

The MIU based at Dinjan had planned Monalisa’s escape from the Ulfa camp in Sagaing division of Myanmar after Russell approached the former for help.

Soon after the Alpha and Charlie companies of Ulfa’s 28 battalion came overground, the Ulfa leadership sought help from the NSCN (K) chief S.S. Khaplang to prevent the exodus of its pro-peace cadres from the Myanmar camp.

“Apart from the wives of some pro-talks leaders, many other Ulfa leaders and cadres willing to join the peace process are virtually being kept hostage in Ulfa’s Myanmar camp,” the army officer claimed. He did not wish to divulge the identities of those who had sent the SOS.

The officer, however, admitted that security in the rebel camps in Myanmar would be stepped up now after Monalisa’s escape. “We would have that much more difficulty in arranging similar escapes,” he said.

The Ulfa camp in Myanmar falls within the territory controlled by the NSCN (K).

The army said a senior Ulfa leader, Jiban Moran, who is stationed in Myanmar, was liaising with the NSCN (K) to prevent other Ulfa leaders and cadres from crossing over to India to join the peace process. His wife was arrested a few months ago in the Barak valley where she was residing as the couple’s two children were studying in a local school.

It claimed that even the commander of the Bravo company of the 28 battalion, Bijoy Chinese, was being held in Myanmar.