ASSAM’S X-FILES (PART-ONE)

Before 2000, there was hardly any sort of collective compilation or documentation related to the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) in the public domain. It was in the form of traditional news that most information was relayed, and then it got passed on and stayed like folktale. It dominated every evening gossip across households in Assam with new stings channeling from traditional news sources. These conversations also triggered fear and revealed the darker side of the outfit’s organization. It was surfaced by murders and killings occurred within the organization’s cadres, portraying the internal tales of betrayal and power play in the cadres hierarchy. These internal tales of betrayal maintained a consistent truth, a brutal truth revealing the unspoken truth of the ULFA outfit.

Post 2000, the several publications came into focus, in forms of books, poems, often articles on spoken interviews and opinions by ex-cadres, even some publications are authored them, had come into wide popularity finding readerships at large numbers. It made headlines and got prime time slots in news debates and so on. The Assamese film industry has not failed to capture the essence of ULFA uprising either. Both in good and bad light, but always managed to idealize the struggle for achieving “sovereign  Assam”. Just that the odd parts, the ones shown in the bad light are the confusions in the journey of the struggle.

For whatever the reason of its popularity, one must not forget and forgive the activities condoned by the ULFA that have been horrific and inhuman in nature, even though they are gaining traction within readers and viewers. But, are we introspecting at how these messages or anecdotes by the ex-cadres tell us? It tells us of a defeating battle, not so much by its ideology it held, but from the internal conflicts and egoistic battles that those ULFA cadres experience in the camps enforced by their leaders and commanders, those in the position of hierarchy. Thousands of Assamese youth, since the early 1980s have sacrificed so much for this “sovereign Assam” dream by joining the outlawed ULFA. But, what came out of it is news of their deaths - killed in encounters or by their own cadres inside the camps.

Having said this, thus, in what follows in this article are some of the confessions and anecdotes of those ex-cadres who lost their ‘youth-time’ and have returned to the mainstream and to their family, upon realizing that the promised imagination of ‘sovereign Assam’ mission by the ULFA seems a dying vision, and has no meaning left anymore to it in the current scenario. Now, what are the reasons for these returned cadres to abandon the mission halfway? Do they not see that Assam needs to fight for freedom from poverty and expression anymore? Or, are they simply not able to cope with an exile lifestyle that the mission demands? Or, are they unable to accept the dominating hierarchy and power politics at play in the organization?

The article discusses the latter, since the purpose is not to map out the outcome of ULFA failed dreams since the 1980s. But, we can certainly read about the ex-cadres' confessions and experience living a life in the wild during their field operations that forced them to abandon the mission of sovereign  Assam. These confessions are heard from the interviews and discussion, in an attempt to seek answers to the reason for their return. Some, who are still in the outfit may term these ex-cadres or returnees as ‘informers’ and ‘betrayers’; while the same is said about them vice versa who have confessed about the insidious conflicts surfacing inside the outfit. Some details are also shared by the exile families who have never seen their sons or close ones again - which mostly in conclusion have proven that the lifestyle and the inability to cope in the wild jungles of Myanmar and Bangladesh trails or getting killed by their own members in the camps were not the ultimate dream. However, the readers can figure out from what these ex-cadres have to say about the life they experienced, which led them to believe that there was no mission to fight for, but only some sort of game of thrones to assert dominance and bondage.

Before we begin, it would be wise to briefly get readers acquainted to a common acronym i.e. ‘S-ULFA’. Those who had surrendered from the outfit are now called S-ULFA; the word ‘S’ stands for ‘surrender’. So, the article will use S-ULFA to put forward their confessions, while keeping in mind to protect their true identity and maintain anonymity.

CONFESSION OF S-ULFA 1

Today, S-ULFA 1 is happily married with two children. He says he joined the outfit at age of 23, because he believed that ULFA can initiate change in Assam. The struggle to liberate Assam seemed a noble cause at that time. He was convinced as a youth, he must give his life for it. He also saw that peripheral youth cannot access higher education or find government employment in Assam. He came from a poor family and struggled to achieve his graduation in Dibrugarh in Assamese medium with great difficulty, doing two odd jobs to meet his expenses. At times, he could not save enough money to visit his village. After graduation, he could not return because he had his family to look after. Then one day, he was recruited by the outfit. A year later, living in the camp and undergoing some basic training, he was taken in the group of a higher commander in ranks in GHQ camp. It was located on the Indo-Myanmar border. Living in that camp, his main activity was to plow the fields. He along with his mates would walk a few kilometers to reach their paddy field from their camp. Most days are the same. They left the camp and returned at reported time. They were strictly told not to socialize and roam around the vicinity, as assumed they could be caught by neighbors reporting their true identity to the legal authorities. They were to pose as normal people and never carried their guns, but always had a long knife known as daw which was quite common in the neighborhood and not deemed a threat for carrying it around. Mostly the daw is seen as a utility tool for various works.

One day, it was in the month of July, very humid and sunny, and they had just finished their plowing routine. As there was time to return to the camp, four of them decided to take a longer route between the neighborhood jungles just to see around while passing. On their tracks, they happened to find a few lychee trees. The lychees were ripe and they could resist it. They got excited and spent some time relishing the fruits and lost track of time. S-ULFA 1, for the first time at camp life, he felt like he had truly enjoyed being there. It reminded him of his home as well, when he used to hover around the mango trees just to get a slice of it, when he was a very young boy. Most of them were revisiting their childhood days over the joy of relishing lychees. None of them could keep track of time. They were about an hour late already.

They realized they were late and quickly they returned to the camp where their camp commander was waiting for them. They were brutally held by their collars as they entered the camp premise. They were dragged hastily to the commander’s desk. They were interrogated about the reason for being late. They were laughed at for sharing the lychee experience. It was not acceptable by the camp commander that they could go anywhere and enjoy lychee in unknown terrain. The commander ordered the other boys in the camp to strip them naked and tie them upside down on a tree. All four of them were tied to the tree in naked body. They were beaten up for hours with a stern stick by their camp commander till their body was completely swollen. The commanders kept yelling and reminding the cadres that nobody was above the rule of his orders. And, such punishment would come to all who will disobey his orders. Others watched them helplessly and most of them were scared and sorry for them. They were constantly humiliated while receiving heavy trash by the camp commander. They were left hanging on the tree, soaked in their red blood the whole night, until the commander gave orders to put them down the next day. It was for about six hours or more that they were hanging upside down from the tree and most of them were in an unconscious state.

S-ULFA 1 was only 24-years-old when he along with his three campmates faced this ordeal. It was such a heart wrenching experience for him and he could not understand for months, as to why such severe punishment was given to cadres who lived with much dedication and committed for the cause. They never disobeyed their commanders. For him, he did not see any harm in what he did. He was not able to walk for months, and no concession was given for his condition to recover, but was put at the usual tasks of the camp. There is always a shortage of medical aid in the camps, so they were not given any medicines or allowed treatment in the nearby village clinic. One of his mates, out of the three, deeply inflicted by the wounds, unable to endure the pain anymore, succumbed to his injuries in less than a week. The commander did not allow anyone to mourn over his death.

S-ULFA 1 remembers that the humiliation continued, they were touted by the camp commanders for a long while. He would hide himself in some corners and cry sometimes remembering his family when nobody was watching. S-ULFA 1 also mentioned that the camp commander made an example of them. It was a manner in which the commander was asserting his dominance on the cadres at the camp, to make others follow his orders, frighten him and worship him unconditionally whether right or wrong. All cadres in the camp would not dare to do anything that would tip him off. Later on, in that GHQ camp, his lychee incident and punishment was constantly reminded to new recruits as an example to keep all cadres in strict check. He confessed that he attempted to flee from the camp several times, but was afraid to get killed. He got himself arrested by Assam police, but in reality he always wanted to surrender and return to his village life. It spent almost eleven years in the outfit.

CONFESSION OF S-ULFA 2

Another incident of S-ULFA 2, is a similar story of power play in hierarchy, he was stationed at Arakan camp in Indo-Myanmar border where he became friends with one of the boys S-ULFA 3. He joined the outfit at age of 22 and his friend joined at the same year, but a few months later. He reckons how they both shared a great deal of passion to serve for Assam and its people, how they felt patriotic to the cause until one day when S-ULFA 2 saw how his friend S-ULFA 3 was outcast for being in love with a girl in the camp. Girls living in the camps and joining the outfit is not an uncommon thing. Mostly these girls are brought for doing the chores for the commanders or sometimes cooking for the cadres in the camps. They are given some level of militant training as well. These girls come with consent that they could be doing sexual favors to their higher commanders.

In this Arakan camp, three girls were part of the cadres. S-ULFA 3 would often help these girls in the usual chores and during other training sessions, as such he got closer with one of the girls. They would secretly meet where others could not spot them. The other two girls were aware of it, but helped the girl and S-ULFA 3 to have their way till it last. S-ULFA 2 never felt it was wrong to fall in love, as it does not betray the struggle's purpose. So, S-ULFA 2 never advised S-ULFA 3 otherwise, but recalls telling him to be careful about others finding out.

Then one day, one of the boys in the camp spotted both of them getting closer in one of their secret meets. The information was immediately relayed to the camp commander. The camp commander had two favorite boys who were ranked below the commander as the successors. And, one of them was also interested in the same girl and had developed a liking for her since her arrival in the camp. The camp commander gave orders to punish S-ULFA 3 by his two favorite boys. All cadres were called out that evening to witness the punishment planned. S-ULFA 3 was stripped naked, kicked brutally on his private parts, spit on, humiliated in the name of his family and beaten for hours in front of the girl. His private part was crushed and the girl was made to watch like the others. The boy who liked the same girl was unable to control his jealousy and he continued beating him till he got unconscious. S-ULFA 2 recalls that everyone in the camp felt that S-ULFA 3 would die that night itself. It seemed obvious with the intensity of the harsh beatings from the three men including the camp commander. But, he survived that night.

The camp commander ordered no one to aid S-ULFA 3. He was bleeding heavily laying on the ground. He woke up a few hours later in the middle of the night in the extreme cold, still fully naked, he could barely talk, tried to call for some help and water, but nobody attended him. He kept begging from the ground, soaked in blood, but it was much later when one of the girls showed some courage and went to him, gave him some water and covered his body. Before he could fully recover, he was continuously beaten up for two more days in intervals by the commander’s favorite boys. The boy who was most jealous of him often took out a personal angst at him. On the night of day three, he died during his unconscious state and nobody knew until five hours had passed during the interval of his punishment, recalls S-ULFA 2 from that dreadful incident.

From that night, S-ULFA 2 could not sleep well for weeks thinking about the pain his friend had to endure. He was quite sure that S-ULFA 3 was internally bleeding heavily. S-ULFA 2 was ashamed that he could not do anything about it. His friend, S-ULFA 3 was 28-years-old when he died. After five years, S-ULFA 2 while transiting from Arakan camp to a new location with the cadres, fled and made an escape to return to his family and mainstream life. He met up with the S-ULFA 3 family a few years later, and till today he cannot forget his friend’s death. His only fault was that he was in love and got trapped in a jealousy game.

Now, hearing these accounts of experiences and confessions, one must introspect the idea behind the imagination of “sovereign Assam'' endorsed  by ULFA (I). Why should Assamese youth join hands with ULFA (I) in insurgency? The outfit commanders manipulate the youth just to fill in their camps. There is no respect once part of the outfit, only fear and bondage exist. The confessions of ex-cadres being exploited in the camps, witnessing lives been ripped away in a blip for no reason, horrific sense of punishment, asserting cruelty, dominance and life taken away as like pawns for their entertainment or polishing the ego of the higher commanders seems to be the true struggle at every camps of the outlawed UFLA (I). These experiences have led them to believe that there was no mission to fight for, but only some sort of game of thrones in asserting dominance and bondage. Is this not a straight line of suicidal attempt? So, where is the sense of participating in the freedom struggle of Assam joining the outfit?

Disclaimer: Reema Dash, the contributor of this article, is a human rights activist from West Bengal. Views expressed in this article is a work of personal opinion and research. It is not part of any organizational endorsement.