GUWAHATI: Just a day after ULFA-I stated that the threat issued by pro-Khalistan group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) to Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma seemed ‘unfortunate’, the SFJ, on Tuesday (April 04), issued an open letter to ULFA-I.
In the open letter, the SFJ extended support to ULFA-I’s Assam independence movement.
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“SFJ supports secession of Assam from India,” the open letter signed by Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, president of the SFJ, stated.
Pannu suggested that the ULFA-I should hold an independence referendum on whether Assam should be an independent country.
“…on the lines of the Khalistan Referendum, General Paresh (Baruah), you also announce to hold a Referendum on the question Should Indian Occupied Assam Be An Independent Country?” pannu in the letter stated.
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He added: “SFJ announces that should ULFA-I declare to organize an independence referendum for Assam, SFJ wiII support the Assam Independence Referendum (AIR) by providing: All legal help and logistical guidance to ULFA-I in holding the Assam Independence Referendum; Help in the campaign to lobby for Assam’s independence among the nations of the world; Legal support in presenting the case for Assam’s independence before the UN.”
Also read: Assam: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s security beefed up amidst pro-Khalistan outfit threats
It may be mentioned here that the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I), earlier, had written an open letter to the pro-Khalistan-backed group, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) over the threat issued to Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma by the group.
ULFA-I said that they felt the alarm sent to the chief minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma by telephone seemed “unfortunate and misunderstood”.
The open letter to the SFJ was issued by the ULFA-I urging them to refrain from issuing “undesired” remarks.
In the letter, the ULFA-I highlighted the generosity and customs of the “Tholgiri” people of Assam, who refrained from any mental or physical harassment of the Sikhs living in Assam and the West-South-East Asia (WeSEA) region in the aftermath of “Operation Bluestar” at the Golden Temple in Amritsar from 1 June to 10 June 1984.
The letter also pointed out that there was no example of a Sikh in Assam or WeSEA being killed or harassed during the “brutal killing of Sikhs in the subsequent period of 31 October 1984 when the late Prime Minister of colonial India, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguard”.
Also read: Assam: ULFA-I writes open letter to SFJ over threats to CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
The proscribed militant organisation emphasized that even though there was a Congress government in both Assam and Delhi at the time, the political leaders of Assam at the time abstained from making negative comments against the freedom-loving Sikhs, and “today is no exception”.
The letter also noted that there is no room for the brutal torture of the eight members of ‘Khalistan and Waris Punjab De’ who were recently brought from distant Punjab and imprisoned in Dibrugarh jail, and the group has not seen any news that is contrary to the customs of the people of Assam.
They also highlighted that the people of Assam know the “history of the Sikhs, love the revolution and understand the essence of the freedom struggle”.