Friday, June 26, 2009

Bhutan: No insurgent activity on India border


Bhutanese dancers on 3/8/09 in the peaceful Himalayan Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan

THIMPHU -- On [6/20/09] Bhutan assured India that there was no United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) presence in the Buddhist mountain kingdom. “I have no knowledge [of the presence of ULFA here]...

"This is something what we also read in Indian papers, but we do not have any presence here, it should be made very, very clear. Where, [from], and how these reports had come, we also do not know,” Foreign Minister Ugyen Tshering said after signing a memorandum of understanding with External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna.

He was replying questions by journalists on Indian intelligence reports of the presence of ULFA units in the bordering areas of Bhutan. There were intelligence reports that ULFA activity was still witnessed along the Indo-Bhutanese border, resulting in violent attacks by the insurgent group in those areas. “But I can very categorically say that the purpose of the previous activities was not to have a situation where there is any presence of ULFA cadres here,” Mr. Tshering said. (PTI) Source

United Liberation Front of Asom
ULFA is a terrorist group from Assam [1] among many other such groups in North-East India. It seeks to establish a sovereign Assam via an armed struggle in the Assam Conflict. The Government of India banned the organization in 1990 and classified it as a terrorist group, while the U.S. State Department lists it under "other groups of concern" [2]. More>>

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