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Indian separatist women in Assam jungles deserting camps

IRNA

Guwahati, Oct 31, IRNA -- Indian women separatists in the northeaster 
state of Assam have been deserting their camps in large numbers unable
to bear the tortuous life in the jungles, surrendered militants said 
on Friday. 
"Life was like hell in the jungles and really very tough for any 
woman to survive with no basic amenities and lack of bare minimum 
privacy," Barnali Chaliha, the mother of a three-year-old boy, told 
IRNA. 
Chaliha had joined the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom 
(ULFA) in 1999 after getting to Samarjit Chaliha, now a self-styled 
lieutenant of the outfit based at a camp in southern Bhutan. 
"I realized the futility of staying in the jungle with my three- 
year-old son and so decided to desert the outfit leaving behind my 
husband who is still in Bhutan," 30-year-old Chaliha said. 
She was among 70 more militants, including two other women cadres,
who surrendered before army authorities recently. 
The ULFA, fighting for an independent homeland in Assam, operates 
out of bases inside adjoining Bhutan although its cadres were now 
reportedly shifting bases to neighboring Bangladesh. 
Like Chaliha, Ani Hazarika is another young Assamese woman who 
joined the ULFA in 1990 spurred by ideas of attaining independence by 
fighting the Indian army. 
"Contrary to expectations, we had to lead a very hard and tortuous
life in the underground, while our leaders were leading a posh and 
luxurious life in some South Asian cities," Hazarika said. 
Hazarika fled the jungles of Bhutan along with her husband, also 
an ULFA militant, and their three-and-half-year-old son to surrender 
before authorities. 
Bhutan has admitted that the ULFA has six camps in the country, 
including the outfit`s general headquarters and military training 
bases inside thick jungles in the southern Samdrup Johnkar district. 
Indian intelligence officials say there could be less than a 
hundred women cadres in the ULFA although the outfit`s strength is 
estimated at about 3,000 who carry out their hit-and-run guerrilla 
strikes on soldiers in Assam. 
Up to 2,500 militants, including about 200 women, have since 
surrendered before authorities in Assam during the past one decade 
although the outfit was making up for the loss by recruiting new 
cadres, most of them jobless youths. 
An army spokesman said the surrendered militants would be 
rehabilitated under a federal government package with vocational 
training and other financial support. 
"We want to start life afresh and hope the people forgive us for 
the mistake that we committed by choosing the path of violence," 
Chaliha said. 
/AA/217 
End