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

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 ...

, the banned revolutionary organisation of

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 ...

. 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, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...

. 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 June 21, 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 June 24, 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 ''aliases'' Paresh Asom and Kamruj Zaman Khan, 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 Libe ...

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 (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

. They also participated in the first round of formal talk, initiated by the central government on October 29, 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