Villagers take out a procession in Goriating on Monday. Picture by Amrit Sharma

Guwahati/Dibrugarh, Jan. 24: Ulfa and Dispur came out talking tough today. While Ulfa warned that “Indians” would have to suffer if innocent Assamese youths were killed by security forces in the name of the proscribed outfit, Dispur asserted that it would not be cowed down by Ulfa’s threats and that anti-insurgency operations would continue.

The leader of Ulfa’s central publicity cell, Arunodoy Dohotia, in a statement emailed to the media said Arup Chowrak and Gail, alias Kanteswar Chetia — the two youths killed in Goriating village in Doomdooma yesterday — were innocent and gunned down by the security forces in a fake encounter.

Dohotia warned: “Under the instruction of the colonial Indian government, the Tarun Gogoi government in Assam is continuously killing innocent Assamese youths, either secretly or openly. So we want to warn the Gogoi-led colonial government that if any innocent Assamese youth is killed in the days to come, it would have definite impact on Indians. We will not sit with hands folded.” Ulfa’s warning sounded similar to the one the anti-talks faction of the NDFB issued in November.

The outfit had warned of killing “20 Indians” if an “innocent Bodo” was killed. It carried out its threat by gunning down 23 people a few days later. Villagers at Goriating today strongly condemned the “fake encounter” deaths. They organised a protest meeting at the Goriating public playground which was presided over by Padma Chowrak, a relative of Chowrak.

The AASU, the All Assam Moran Students’ Union and the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad also submitted two memoranda — one addressed to Gogoi and the other to Tinsukia deputy commissioner S.S. Meenakshi Sundaram — demanding a high level inquiry into the incident and a compensation of Rs 20 lakh each for families of the two militants and a government job to one person from the affected families.

Dispur responded sternly to Ulfa’s threat with Gogoi saying:“Those killed were genuine Ulfa cadres. Operations will continue as before along with the ongoing peace efforts. We will not remain silent if somebody tries to derail the ongoing peace process. Those opposed to the process are foreign agents,” . When asked if Ulfa was divided, he said: “It is there for all to see. One section is for peace and another is opposed to it, unmindful of the wishes of the people.” He also said only after Ulfa decides how to go ahead with the peace process after its executive and general council meet, would Dispur act. “We will see what the pro-peace leaders have to say before we take the next step but things are moving in the right direction,” Gogoi added.

The Sankaracharya of Puri, Swami Adhokhyayananda, appealed to all militant groups, including Ulfa and the government, to start a dialogue. Sasadhar Choudhury and Raju Barua had called on him yesterday.