Chetia handed over to India
ULFA leader�s two aides also handed over; Modi should not take credit: Assam CM
In a landmark move, the government yesterday handed over Anup Chetia, general secretary of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), to the Indian authorities amid secrecy.
Anup, along with his two associates - Laxmi Prasad Goswami, alias Shakti Prasad, and Babul Sharma - were handed over through the Benapole-Petrapole border point at about 8.15am yesterday.
Press Trust of India (PTI) which broke the news, said the hand-over took place at the personal intervention of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and with the active involvement of his national security adviser (NSA), Ajit Doval. Though home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal expressed his ignorance about the issue in the morning, later he told the media that Anup and two of his associates were released as they wanted to return home.
He claimed that the jail authorities released the three at the Kashinpur jail gate and officials of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka received them.
India is our friendly country. They always cooperate with us and we also cooperate them, he said.
Before releasing the three Indian citizens, Anup Chetia signed a bond saying that he was going to his country on his own will in good health and was fully aware of it, the home minister added.
The minister said as Chetia, Shakti and Babul reached the border to cross over into India, the process was facilitated by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the Border Security Force (BSF) of India. If you think its a handover, then its a handover, he added.
Sources in the home ministry and the jail authorities said before being released, Chetia and his two associates sought consular access and JP Singh, an official of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, met with them in jail.
During the last home minister-level meeting, the Indian authorities had requested Dhaka to hand over Chetia to them. In exchange, the Bangladesh home minister urged his Indian counterpart to return Nur Hossain, prime accused in the Narayanganj seven-murder case and the two fugitive convicted killers of Bangabandhu, Captain (dismissed) Mazed and Risalder (dismissed) Mosleh Uddin.
Anup Chetia (aka Golap Barua, Sunil Barua, Bhaijan and Ahmed) was arrested from a flat in Mohammadpur on December 21, 1997. He was charged with illegally entering Bangladesh and possessing two forged Bangladeshi passports, an unauthorised satellite telephone and unauthorised foreign currency. He was sentenced to seven years in jail by a Dhaka court and his prison term ended in 2003.
He had sought political asylum in Bangladesh thrice - in 2005, 2008 and 2011. The High Court asked the government to provide him with safe custody until a decision was taken on his asylum prayer. Chetia is the founder general secretary of ULFA, a terrorist organisation in the Indian state of Assam.
Bangladesh has handed over several ULFA leaders, including its chairman Aravinda Rajkhowa, to India since 2010. The Indian authorities are currently holding talks with Rajkhowa. It is not known if Chetia will also join efforts by New Delhi to settle the insurgency problem in Assam.
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said yesterday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not take credit for Chetias deportation, according to the Indian private TV channel Z News. He said it was he who continuously demanded the rebel leaders extradition to help ULFAs peace talks with the central and state governments.
I do not think this (deportation of Chetia) is the success of Modi. It is because of the land bill and me. It is because of my persuasion and continuous demand to bring back the (ULFA) leader so that the peace talks between the government and the pro-talks faction of ULFA could progress, Gogoi told the TV news channel. Gogoi said he would write to the central government with a request to hand over the ULFA leader to Assam, the TV channel added.
Meanwhile, the news about Chetia was broken by the Indian media, first by its semi-official news agency, the Press Trust of India (PTI), and the private TV channel NDTV in its news scroll at noon.
Initially, the news was brushed aside by home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and the Border Guards Bangladesh chief, Major General Aziz Ahmed. The home minister told reporters that he had heard the news. But confirmed it later.
Anup Chetia, whose real name is Golap Baruah, is a founding member of ULFA and its general secretary. He is also known as Sunil Baruah, Bhaijan or Ahmed. Born in Jerai Gaon in Tinsukia district of Assam, Chetia fled from India in the early 1990s. He had been arrested in March 1991, but the then Assam chief minister Hiteshwar Saikia released him from jail, following which he fled from India. He is among Assams most wanted, for crimes pertaining to murder, abductions and extortion in India. As ULFAs top leader, his main cause was the fight for the independence of Assam.
Chetia was arrested by Bangladesh police in December 1997 and was subsequently handed seven years of jail terms by two courts for cross-border intrusion, carrying fake passports and illegally keeping foreign currencies.
