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ULFA is tipping ISI about army movements

The United Liberation Front of Asom is feeding information about army movements in the North-East to Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence on a daily basis, according to Lt Gen D B Shekatkar.

Lt Gen Shekatkar told reporters at the Brigade Headquarters at Narangi last night that the army had intercepted regular phone calls from the ULFA top brass to ISI agents in Pakistan, establishing a long-suspected nexus between the two.

''They are making three to four phone calls at day giving information about the army's various movements and about logistics. We have intercepted calls to Karachi, Lahore, Gujranwalla, Sialkot and a small place called Narowar,'' he said.

According to him, most of these calls were made from PCOs. Asked why the army was not apprehending the PCO owners, the Lt Gen Shekatkar said they were being watched. ''Besides, catching the PCO operator will not serve the purpose,'' he said

He said the phone calls were being made from places like Nagaon, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Nalbari. Although the ULFA was in contact with the ISI since long, the phone calls had increased in the past two weeks, especially after fighting began in Kargil.

''Some calls were also made from Siliguri to Nepal,'' he said.

Pressed about a more concrete evidence on the nexus, Lt Gen Shekatkar said the intercepted message was sufficient proof. ''They were speaking in corrupt Urdu. In fact we have come to know about the caller.'' He also claimed that the ULFA was taking instructions from the ISI.

Asked whether the ULFA could be behind the New Jalpaiguri blast which claimed nine lives, he said the angle was being examined, but nothing concrete had come out so far.

Lt Gen Shekatkar said there was no evidence so far of a nexus between the ISI and the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland.

However, he said the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, ULFA and the NDFB had an important meeting in north Myanmar in the NSCN camps. Representatives of the Kachin Independent Army also were present at the meeting.

UNI

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