School students read a poster opposing the 12-hour call by Ulfa. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Sept. 7: The Assam Public Works Ulfa Pariyal Committee, a non-government organisation, has embarked on a massive poster campaign in the city, making a fervent appeal to the people to boycott the 12-hour bandh call given by the outfit tomorrow.

The government has also mounted a massive security drive to foil any sabotage attempt by the Ulfa.

The posters, that have come up all over the city, has generated a lot of curiosity, since this is the first time that an NGO has come forward to launch a campaign against a bandh called by a militant outfit.

The posters, written in Assamese, were stuck on almost all the city buses plying on the roads.

The committee, through the posters, made an appeal to people to not the support the bandh as “it was tantamount to encouraging terrorism and bloodshed in the state”.

The Ulfa has called the bandh to protest the death of its senior leader, Robin Handique, in Tezpur civil hospital while in judicial custody. Ulfa chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa, has even claimed that Handique died due to “poisoning by the government in a pre-planned manner”.

The posters, however, said that “ Handique was a terrorist and there cannot be any justification for calling a bandh to protest the death of a terrorist”. “Handique was no saint, he was a militant. The Ulfa may hold the government responsible for his death, but a bandh affecting lakhs of people in the state is unjustified,” Abhijit Sarma, director of the committee, said in a statement issued here last evening.

The committee also questioned whether an organisation like the Ulfa, which believes in armed and violent struggle, has any moral right to call a bandh, which is a democratic method of protest. The NGO requested the people to oppose the bandh, as it will badly affect the daily wage earners. “The Ulfa has called the bandh to protest the death of its leader, but who will call a bandh for so many people killed in militant attacks over the years?” stated a poster.

The committee dubbed Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa a traitor.

The posters said a bandh called by a democratic organisation may have some justification, but a bandh called by an armed militant group cannot be justified at any cost.

Manab Adhikar Sangram Samity (MASS), a human rights group, criticised the committee for its campaign.

The chief adviser of MASS, Lachit Bordoloi, said that such a campaign would surely negate all efforts by the government to bring the militant outfit to the negotiation table.