The banned group ULFA-Independent (ULFA-i) said on Sunday, July 13th, that the Indian Army used drones to attack one of its camps in Myanmar. According to them, at least three top leaders were killed in the attack. However, the Indian Army has denied carrying out any such operation across the border.

ULFA-Independent (ULFA-I) has claimed that the Indian Army, which they called “Indian occupational forces,” carried out drone attacks on several of their camps near the Myanmar border—close to Longwa in Nagaland and Pangsai Pass in Arunachal Pradesh—early Sunday morning between 2 am and 4 am. The group said over 150 drones, made in Israel and France, were used in the attack. They also claimed that their top leader, Lieutenant General Nayan Medhi (also known as Nayan Asom), was killed and 19 others were injured.

In another statement, ULFA-Independent said that two more of their leaders—Brigadier Ganesh Asom and Colonel Pradip Asom—were killed in a missile attack that happened after the earlier drone strikes.

According to a statement by ULFA-I leader Ishan Asom, reported by Hindustan Times, missile attacks took place while the last rites of Nayan Asom were being held. In the attack, two other leaders—Ganesh Asom and Pradip Asom—were killed, and many officers, members of the group, and some civilians were injured.

ULFA-Independent said that Indian Army attacks near the Myanmar border were still going on until Sunday morning. The group promised to strongly respond to these attacks on its camps.

However, a senior Indian Army officer in Guwahati said they had no information about such an operation. Another officer in Nagaland also said the same.

Meanwhile, sources said that the Indian Army carried out drone strikes inside Myanmar, targeting camps of two banned groups—NSCN-K (National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang) and PLA (People’s Liberation Army). Some of these camps were reportedly damaged during the operation.

This is the second time an ULFA-Independent camp in Myanmar has been attacked. On January 8 last year, the group claimed that the Indian Army had used drones to strike one of its camps a day earlier, causing minor injuries to two members.

ULFA-I is led by Paresh Baruah and has several camps in Myanmar. The group has made it clear that it will only take part in peace talks if the discussion includes its main demand—that Assam should be an independent and separate country, no longer part of India.

The Assamese people have their own special culture, language, and a strong sense of who they are. But in the 1800s, when tea, coal, and oil industries grew in the region, many people from other places came to Assam for work. This made the local people feel uneasy about their identity and future. Things got worse after the Partition of India, when many refugees from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) moved into Assam.

As more people came into Assam, the fight for jobs, land, and other resources became very serious. This led to a large public protest that lasted for six years. In 1985, to try and solve the issue of illegal migrants in Assam, the government signed an agreement called the Assam Accord.

In the middle of all this unrest, a group of people with more extreme ideas came together and formed ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) on April 7, 1979. The leaders included Bhimakanta Buragohain, Arabinda Rajkhowa, Anup Chetia, Pradip Gogoi, Bhadreshwar Gohain, and Paresh Baruah.

ULFA was formed with the goal of creating a separate Assamese nation, independent from India. To do this, the group used weapons and violence. For more than 46 years, their actions included kidnappings, threats for money, killings, and bomb blasts. This long conflict has caused great pain and loss of life in Assam and other places.

The Indian government also took tough steps to stop ULFA’s violent activities. In 1990, it started a military action called Operation Bajrang, during which 1,221 ULFA members were arrested. The government declared Assam a ‘disturbed area’, removed the state government by bringing in President’s rule, and gave special powers to the army under a law called AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act).

The government was also believed to have secretly supported some groups within ULFA, which often had internal disagreements. In 1992, one group broke away and chose to surrender. This group became known as SULFA (Surrendered ULFA). They agreed to talk with the government. Later, it was said that SULFA members were involved in secretly killing ULFA fighters and their family members, reportedly with support from the state government.

Still, ULFA has managed to stay active, partly because of support from outside India. The group has camps in Myanmar and earlier had camps in Bangladesh and Bhutan too. These camps are hidden in forests and hilly areas. ULFA uses them to plan attacks across borders, hide after carrying out attacks, and train new members.

ULFA has connections with other rebel groups in Northeast India and Myanmar. It is also said to have ties with Islamic terrorist groups like Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami and Al-Qaeda. Reports claim that Paresh Baruah, the military head of ULFA, even met Osama Bin Laden, the main person behind the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.

ULFA is also believed to have ties with Pakistan’s spy agency, the ISI, which is said to have trained ULFA members in the past. During the Kargil War, ULFA openly supported Pakistan in its monthly newsletter called Swadhinata.

In 2003, Bhutan launched a military operation against ULFA and removed their camps. Later, in 2009, when Sheikh Hasina became Prime Minister of Bangladesh, her government also acted strongly against ULFA. As a result, most ULFA members were forced to leave both countries.

In 2005, ULFA gave hope for peace by forming an 11-member team called the People’s Consultative Group to hold talks. But soon after, they changed their mind and started a new wave of violence.

In 2009, Indian security forces caught several ULFA leaders from the group led by Rajkhowa. Later, in September 2011, this group agreed to stop fighting and signed a peace deal with the central government.

In 2012, Paresh Baruah, who was against peace talks, removed Rajkhowa from ULFA. In April 2013, his group was renamed ULFA (Independent). The other group, which supported peace talks, signed a final peace agreement in 2023—12 years after they had first agreed to stop violent activities.

As per the agreement, ULFA has promised to give up violence, stop using weapons, shut down its armed group, and leave all the camps it had taken over. The group also agreed to take part in peaceful politics by following the law. This is a big change from their earlier demand for a separate country.

The central government will prepare a plan with a fixed timeline to meet some of ULFA’s demands. A special committee will be set up to keep track of the progress. The deal also includes a large investment of ₹1.5 lakh crore to help in the overall development of Assam. One of the most important parts of the deal is the promise to look into ULFA’s political demands in a serious way.

The agreement also promises to protect Assam’s borders by peacefully settling boundary issues with nearby Northeastern states. It says that the same rules used during the 2023 redrawing of Assembly areas (delimitation) will be followed in the future too.

One major goal of the deal is to make sure that the original people of Assam get the most seats in the state’s 126-member Assembly. To do this, people who are not originally from Assam—mainly migrant Muslims—will be kept out of most seats. In fact, after the 2023 changes, non-indigenous people are said to have little to no chance of winning in 106 of the 126 Assembly seats.

Besides protecting the rights of local people in the Assembly, the agreement also includes some other key points. One of them is a request to exclude Assam from Section 3 of the Citizenship Act, 1955. This section explains who can be considered an Indian citizen by birth. It also covers cases where a person has given up (renounced) their Indian citizenship or lost it due to certain reasons.

What this means is that the agreement wants special rules for Assam so that people who may have once left or lost Indian citizenship cannot easily claim it again in the state. This is mainly to protect Assam’s local population and stop illegal migrants from becoming citizens through legal loopholes.

The pact also wants a rule to prevent people from registering as voters in areas where they don’t actually live. It calls for a new, clean, and mistake-free National Register of Citizens (NRC). In the last updated list, 19.06 lakh people out of 3.3 crore applicants were left out because their documents could not prove their citizenship.

After the peace deal was signed—this being the 11th such deal since the BJP came to power in Assam in 2016—Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that 90% of the violence in the state has ended. Experts on conflict agree that the agreement is a good step, but they also say that real peace will only come if Paresh Baruah and about 200 fighters from his group, ULFA (Independent), also agree to stop fighting and join the peace process. The big challenge now is making sure that the government actually follows through on what it has promised in the deal.

ULFA (Independent) runs its operations from secret camps in the Sagaing region of Myanmar. Its leader, Paresh Baruah, is believed to be staying near the Myanmar-China border. He has said many times that there is no point in talking to the Indian government unless the topic of Assam becoming a separate country is included.

However, Assam’s Chief Minister has made it clear that the government cannot talk about sovereignty, because the people of Assam do not want to break away from India. Still, he said the government will keep trying to convince Baruah to come forward for peace talks.

The recent drone strikes, if confirmed, represent a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict and may further complicate efforts to bring the remaining ULFA faction into the peace process. With Sunday’s attacks allegedly claiming the lives of three top ULFA-I leaders, the path to complete peace in Assam remains uncertain and challenging.