The proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom has fired a broadside at the traders' community in Assam for demanding imposition of President's rule in the state.
In a statement e-mailed to the media in Guwahati, ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa lambasted the Coordination Committee for Different Trade Associations and Chambers of Commerce of Assam for submitting a memorandum to the President of India demanding imposition of President's Rule in the state.
The rebel leader stated that the action on part of the traders' associations reflected their loyalty to the 'Indian colonial ruler'and their design to pave the way for a rule of army in the state to crush ULFA.
The coordination of about 29 traders' associations and chambers of commerce in the state met President A P J Abdul Kalam in New Delhi on Wednesday to demand for imposition of President's Rule in the state in view of the worsening law and order situation where the banned ULFA has been carrying out explosions at will making a mockery of the security arrangement in the state.
The ULFA chairman warned that notwithstanding the wishes of the traders for a rule of army, ULFA would continue to carry on with its 'revolution for sovereignty of Assamese people'.
The rebel leader recalled that it was because of intense lobbying by the influential tea lobby, the 'colonial Indian government' imposed President's Rule and launched army operation in the state way back in 1990.
It may be mentioned that the tea lobby had ganged up against the insurgent group in the year 1990 after the group let loose a reign of terror in Upper Assam's tea belt.
The army operation in the year 1990 was an immediate fallout of the killing of Surendra Paul, a top executive of tea major Assam Frontier Limited, at Doom Dooma in Tinsukia district of the state while he was on a visit to eastern Assam tea estates of the company.
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