Ulfa rebels surrender in Guwahati. A file picture

Dibrugarh, Nov. 20: Some former Ulfa members have raised visions of a sequel to the round of “secret killings” that claimed not only lives but big reputations, too.

One of the names on the list of Ulfa militants who surrendered recently, Ujjwal Gohain, said in a statement from Tinsukia that he and others who had chosen to “come overground” would not remain mute spectators to “heinous acts of violence on surrendered rebels”.

The warning came two days after a suspected Ulfa team gunned down Srimanta Chetia, a former member of the outfit, at Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh. His driver and an acquaintance were killed, too.

The “secret killings” between 1998 and 2001 are believed to have originated from the conflict between Ulfa and Sulfa, an acronym for surrendered militants of the group. Assailants who were allegedly backed by the then government targeted family members of top Ulfa leaders in an attempt to soften up the rebels.

Gohain said surrendered militants would not hesitate to pick up guns again, if it came to that.

The former “finance controller” of Ulfa’s 28 Battalion surrendered in Guwahati recently. He also played a role in the surrender of a group of 20 more militants.

An alarmed police administration sounded an alert today to prevent clashes between Ulfa militants and their former comrades-in-arms. Security for those believed to be at risk of being attacked, especially former Ulfa members based in Upper Assam, was reviewed.

The police headquarters issued advisories to all the districts to be “extra cautious”, particularly in the districts that have a concentration of influential members of the Sulfa brigade. Chetia, for instance, was allegedly hobnobbing with the army and helping it break up the Ulfa ranks.

“We knew that Ulfa was keen to eliminate Srimanta Chetia and he was warned about this threat. Travel advisories were issued to him, but he ignored these warnings,” an intelligence official based in Upper Assam said.

A senior police officer in Dibrugarh said security forces were maintaining round-the-clock vigil on entry and exit points in the town. “Although an alert has been sounded about the threat to Sulfa members, our prime objective remains preventing any attack by Ulfa, be it on oil installations, commercial establishments or tea gardens.”

The government tabled in the Assembly two reports of judicial inquiries into the secret killings only last week. The Justice K.N. Saikia Commission, constituted in 2005, said it found “lurking evidence of the police-Sulfa nexus” in the secret killings.

Several top Ulfa leaders, including chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, commander-in-chief Paresh Barua and Mithinga Daimary, lost family members in attacks by the “secret killers”.