Mrinal Hazarika () alias Plaban Phukan is the ex-commander of the 28th Battalion of

ULFA The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) is an armed separatist insurgent organisation, that operates in the Indian state of Assam. It seeks to establish an independent sovereign nation state of Assam for the indigenous Assamese people thro ...

, the banned revolutionary organisation of

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. He was instrumental in leading the ‘A’ and ‘C’ company of the battalion to announce a ceasefire.

Arrest and release

He was arrested in 2005 from a hotel in

Siliguri Siliguri (, ; ), also known as Shiliguri, is a major Tier ii cities in india, tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms the twin cities, Twin Cities with the neighbouring city of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeel ...

. He said to have assured the Police top brass of his ability to win over his former colleagues. The Assam Police played a pro-active role in releasing him on bail so that he could negotiate with the fence-sitting ULFA cadres. On Saturday 21 June 2008 he walked out of prison on bail from Dibrugarh Central Jail.

Announcement of ceasefire

Within three days of his release, Hazarika was able to secure a ceasefire declaration by the ‘A’ and ‘C’ company of the battalion and announced ceasefire on 24 June 2008. Loyal lieutenants of the outfit remained crucial to the top down chain of command. Commanders like Charan Majhi, Debojit Konwar, Palashmoni Rajbonshi, Ulum Bhuyan and Amar Tanti were already eliminated by security forces in separate encounters. Other leaders like Prabal Neog and Dibakar Moran, were arrested, and Ghanakanta Bora surrendered. Under these circumstances, despite the fact that Hazarika had been in jail since 2005, it was not a difficult task for him to convince and win over the surviving low level commanders. However, Bijoy Chinese, a close confidant of

Paresh Baruah Paresh Baruah, also known by the alias Paresh Asom is an Assamese separatist militant who is the army chief of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), which is seeking Independence for Assam from the India, Indian Union. He is the vice-ch ...

and Sujit Moran, the ‘B’ company commander, distanced themselves from the pro-ceasefire group.

Post ceasefire

Hazarika, along with his colleagues Dibakar Moran, Prabal Neog and Jiten Dutta have built up a popular movement for peace in the State. They have addressed local organisations, held public meetings and road shows, and also issued numerous press statements asking the ULFA top brass to change their course. They submitted a charter of demands to the prime minister of India

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician, and statesman, who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jaw ...

. They also participated in the first round of formal talk, initiated by the central government on 29 October 2009, with Assistant Director of Intelligence Bureau R. N. Ravi. They give up their original demand of sovereignty and ask for greater autonomy of the state.

References

Prisoners and detainees from Assam Living people ULFA members Year of birth missing (living people) {{Terrorism-bio-stub

Arrest and release

Announcement of ceasefire

Post ceasefire

See also

References