The banned ULFA is using the Internet to attract sympathisers for its cause, with the popular networking site Orkut being used for the purpose.
GUWAHATI: The banned ULFA is using the Internet to attract sympathisers for its cause, with the popular networking site Orkut being used for the purpose. ULFA is already known to be techno-savvy, with its mouthpiece Freedom updated on Internet and its statements to the media routed through email.
It is now suspected to be targeting the techno-savvy new generation and the people living outside the state, including NRIs, through forums on Orkut. There are more than 20 Orkut communities related to Assam, which in some way or the other are a platform to discuss issues of militancy in the region.
Though most forums are platforms for constructive discussions, at least a couple of them propagate a "sovereignty" campaign and are sympathetic to the cause of the militants. The proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom has a large number of supporters on Orkut.
While the Asom police are still ignorant of the fact, the army is understood to be looking into it. One such community that is propagating a pro-ULFA campaign is called 'Freedom for our Asom', with 88 members. It describes itself as a community of people who think that "Indians have always treated Asom like a colony" and "have exploited our Asom for their benefit".
It feels that Assam has a right to decide for itself. The owner of the community identifies himself as 'Rudrajit Deodhai Phukan' and states his location to be 'free Assam' in his profile. His aim is 'economic liberation of Asom from the terrorist state called India through regionalism'.
The name is borrowed from a top ULFA leader, with the middle name used as 'Deodhai' instead of 'Dhekial' in the real name of the rebel. The community hosts a number of topics with extreme support for ULFA and its demand for 'sovereignty', with the ULFA militants termed 'freedom fighters'.
Another community 'Sanjukta Mukti Bahini, Asom' (ULFA in Assamese), propagates hate campaign against India, branding India a 'terrorist country' and the ULFA militants 'brave soldiers'. Its owner identifies himself as 'Hirakjyoti Mahanta', a prominent ULFA leader who was killed on December 31, 1990.
Though no discussions on any topic has been initiated on the forum yet, the owner's scrapbook is filled with messages of Orkut users' supporting and criticising his act of opening the community and using the name of the slain militant.
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