Sashadhar Choudhury (

Assamese Assamese may refer to: * Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India * People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam * Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...

: শশধৰ চৌধুৰী) or Sasha Choudhury (real name Sailen Choudhury) is the Foreign Secretary of the outlawed group

ULFA The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) (Assamese: সংযুক্ত মুক্তি বাহিনী, অসম) is an armed separatist organisation operating in the Northeast Indian state of Assam. It seeks to establish an indep ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. His predecessor was Javed Bora. He hails from Helosa gaon in

Nalbari Nalbari (Pron: nɔ:lˈbɑ:rɪ) is a town and a municipal board in Nalbari district in the Indian state of Assam. Nalbari town is also the headquarters of Nalbari District. The town is one of many towns covered under the proposed State capital ...

district of

. He is married to Runima Choudhury and they have a daughter Shishir.

Education

Choudhury is a diploma in civil engineering and educated himself in diplomacy in

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. At times he represented ULFA at international foras including the UN. He is known to be the only English speaking ULFA who even interrupts his interrogators to correct their language.

Arrest

On Sunday night, November 1, 2009, some unidentified gunman took Choudhury, along with the group's finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika away from a house in sector 3 of

Uttara Uttara, which means "north" in Sanskrit and many other South Asian languages, may refer to: Places *Uttara Export Processing Zone, Bangladesh * Uttara, a suburb north of Dhaka, Bangladesh *Uttara East Thana *Uttara West Thana *Uttaradit, a city in ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

. Later they were pushed back to the Indo-Bangladesh Border where they were detained by BSF in

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the eas ...

while trying to infiltrate. They were handed over to Assam Police on November 6 by the BSF. But according to the Assam Police, the leaders surrendered before BSF in Tripura fleeing the crackdown against them in Bangladesh. Choudhury had earlier been arrested in

Mizoram Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "lan ...

in 1996 and came out on bail. On Saturday, November 7, 2009, the Special Operation Unit of the Assam police produced Choudhury and Hazarika before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (Metropolitan). His family was set free for no pending cases were there against them.

Choudhury’ stand

While replying to media-questions, Choudhury said that they had not surrendered but were arrested by Bangladeshi Police Commandos. "''Mori jam kintu Sasha Choudhurye surrender nokore'' (

: মৰি যাম কিন্তূ শশ চৌধুৰীয়ে surrender নকৰে;

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

: Sasha Choudhury will rather die than surrender)," he cleared his stand on the circumstances of his “arrest”.

Charges

On March 4, 1997, arrest warrant was issued for Choudhury. He is charged with Murder, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapon, mischief by causing damage, acts done by several persons infurtherrance of common intention, commission of terrorist and disruptive acts. A case is filed in Chabua PS Case No. 96/89 U/S 302/326/427/34 IP R/W Sec. 3/4 TADA(P) Act.

Reaction

On November 9, 2009, ULFA called for a 12-hour Assam bandh from 6 am demanding their unconditional release. ULFA chairman

Arabinda Rajkhowa Arabinda Rajkhowa (Assamese: (real name Rajiv Rajkonwar), alias Mijanur Rahman Choudhury, is the Chairman of the banned group ULFA. He is one of the founder members of the group. He was also the Vice-President of the Indo-Burma Revolutionary Fr ...

, in a statement issued through e-mail, described the two leaders’ arrest as a “ploy to sabotage the process of finding a political solution to the problem and destroy ULFA militarily.”

References