In a further confirmation of the thinking of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh to not permit anti-India terrorist activity to be conducted from her country, Ulfa leader Anup Chetia, a tricky customer who had vanished since about the mid-1990s, was handed to the Indian authorities on Thursday. The present government in Dhaka has shown itself to be consistently mindful of India’s security concerns.
Chetia was a leading player in the no-talks (with the government) faction of Ulfa along with Paresh Barua, who is holed up in Myanmar and is said to be in the clutches of the Chinese security agencies. With the atmosphere in Bangladesh no longer permissive in respect of anti-India activities, Chetia apparently signalled that he wished to return to India to join his family.
We cannot know at this stage if this is tactical, or a change of heart has indeed occurred. But there is a lesson in this for India. Friendly ties with neighbours aids us in security matters. As for Chetia, he is wanted in an array of cases and hobnobbed with Pakistan’s ISI, which had a free run in Bangladesh under the earlier regime. The man is known to carry several aliases and passports. His repatriation to India is likely to have the effect of weakening Ulfa, which has campaigned for a sovereign state. This process can be hastened if the Centre and the Assam government create a working mechanism for the rehabilitation of former Ulfa armed cadres and their followers.
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