Paresh Baruah

Paresh Baruah, also known by aliases Paresh Asom and Kamruj Zaman Khan, is an Indian separatist militant who is the army chief of the ULFA, which is seeking Independence for Assam from the Indian Union.

He is the vice-chairperson and the commander-in-chief of the United Liberation Front of Assam – Independent (ULFA – I).

Baruah lives in Yunnan, China where he receives funding and patronage from MSS.

He has also insisted that Han Chinese are friends of the Assamese and want to help them become independent, even though his influence has largely diminished.

He is currently residing in his Chinese safe haven near the Myanmar-China border.

Paresh Baruah was born in 1956 at Birpara (campo), Assam, India to a Matak family.

In 2004, Baruah was constantly in touch with some academics including Indira Goswami and numerous organisations, but he was switched to a secure location to undergo a surgery due to a medical emergency, which temporarily halted the communication.

Around 2008, he was again in frequent e-mail communication with the Assamese author, Indira Goswami.

She acted as a mediator in proposed peace talks between ULFA leaders and the government of India.

He was alleged to have insisted on the Independence of Assam, and the peace talks did not take place.

In December 2010, Paresh e-mailed the Indo-Asian News Service reporting that his elder son (19) has been abducted in Bangladesh "to exert mental pressure on his family and to force him to surrender."

Later, the ULFA said that his son was beaten sorely by the kidnappers "to pressure him to disclose his father's whereabouts, sources of income and business", but was allowed to leave after painstaking interrogation.

The organisation further claimed that Baruah's son was terrified to stay tight-lipped about his kidnapping.

In his e-mail, Baruah also wrote:"'My son is not important or bigger than my people and the cause for which we are struggling. No one can make me or my family weak just because my son has been kidnapped, and let me tell you, we are prepared to sacrifice our son but at no cost I would [sic] waiver on my stand.'"

He described the incident as a stratagem of Indian officials but they denied the accusation.

Times of Assam has claimed that the Indian intelligent agencies may be trying to ferret out Baruah by closely monitoring Sunlee.

In January 2010, G. K. Pillai had substantial talks with his official Myanmar counterpart at Nay Pyi Taw on numerous issues, but Baruah was one of the main focal points.

Later, an official from the Ministry of Home Affairs conveyed to the press that Myanmar has promised to capture Baruah, if he is discovered in the country.

Later in August, the Indian agencies claimed that within January, Baruah was legally provided the Chinese visa which authorised him to stay in China for a maximum time period of six months.

The agencies further claimed that the Chinese visa was given to him on a Bangladeshi passport which was further reported to had been issued under his alias Kamrul Zaman.

But, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had repudiated the allegations, claiming that it had never rendered assistance to the ULFA's commander-in-chief.

A photograph of Kalita and the ULFA cadres holding arms and dressed in combat fatigues was strategically provided to the press by the organisation in 2011.

The organisation also distributed a video of Baruah to the media groups in which he was dancing with the cadres of ULFA, during the Bihu festival.

The video was seen as an attempt to intimidate the government of India and the ULFA members who agreed to lay down arms.

In the video, the ULFA cadres can be heard shouting slogans in favour of the secession of Assam.

Earlier, the Indian government had granted bails to some of the high ranking arrested leaders of the ULFA "to try and isolate Baruah and hold formal peace talks".

In September 2011, the Myanmar Army was able to trace Manjit along with some ULFA members in the forest regions of north-west Myanmar and struck at them.

But, despite of sustaining injuries, he survived the onslaught.

The same year, the then Home Secretary of India told media that the government of Myanmar has taken a journalist into custody, who was believed to have gone there to interview Baruah.

A senior ULFA leader, Jivan Moran, was also arrested along with the reporter.

This followed a hoax in media that Baruah had also been captured, but the Home Secretary denied receiving any such information.

The newspaper further claimed that numerous pictures of Sunlee were gathered by the intelligence agencies in early 2012.

The Union Home Secretary of India has said that Baruah's family is not desirous to return to India, because of their stiff attitude.

A collaborator of Baruah has said that two aides of Arabinda Rajkhowa were sent to Bangladesh to convince his and Anup Chetia's family to come back to India.

Manjit was extensively reported to have shifted to China, but in 2012, he was sighted in Nagaland, goalkeeping in a football match between the team of the United Liberation Front of Assam, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) versus the People's Liberation Army of Manipur.

The football match was organised as an attempt to promote cooperation between the insurgent organisations operating in India's North-East.

Baruah has ruled out negotiations with the government of India without addressing the question of Independence for Assam, and described the "peace talks" between the "pro-talk faction" with the Indian government as "a sell-out by Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and other leaders."

But, he added that the ULFA's "demand for Independence does not mean secession".

He further declared that the "anti-talk faction" of ULFA will not halt their battle for the "Aai Asom (motherland)", and he had issued the "pro-talk faction" a deadline of three months to "break talks with the government and return to the outfit."

After the ultimatum of three months was over without any response from Rajkhowa, the ULFA ousted him from his appointed ranks in the ULFA on 8 August 2012, and announced that Abhizeet Asom, who was working as the acting chairman, would serve the organisation as its chairperson since the day.