By Nava Thakuria*
Guwahati: Two employees of Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited namely Pranab Kumar Gogoi and Ram Kumar were abducted by armed cadres belong to Ulfa (Independent) from Diyun drilling locality in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh on 21 December 2020 and since then they are under their custody.
Lately, the outfit in association with National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), issued a statement in Assamese language that as their deadline had already expired, both Gogoi and Kumar would be executed. In a statement issued on 27 January, the Ulfa (I) claimed that the death penalty would be imposed on both the captive employees if the oil company fails to pay the demanded amount of money by 16 February, 2021.
Later the banned outfit explained that talks between their leaders and company officials also resulted nothing in positive. So, the outfit would act on Gogoi, who hails from Sivasagar locality in eastern Assam, and Kumar hailing from Khagaria locality of Bihar as per their resolution. It also imposed a ban over the company across western parts of southeast Asian region and asked the employees to abandon the Haryana based company.
The forum in a statement also urged both the governments in New Delhi and Dispur to take the matter seriously.
Enraged against various terror activities, the social media users have already scolded Ulfa (I) leader Paresh Barua as being a curse for Assam and asked the militant leader to release the abducted engineers immediately. Lately State chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, also in charge of State home portfolio, and senior minister in his cabinet Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma also appealed to the outfit to release them on humanitarian grounds.
Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA), a group comprising local Intelligentsia, while expressing utter dismay over the declaration of a separatist armed outfit to execute two kidnapped individuals after failing the process of negotiations, asked the militant leaders not to indulge in misadventure.
“PPFA strongly advocates for the release of Gogoi and Kumar without any harms to them. The peace-loving people of Assam will not forgive the militants for this misadventure. We also request the mainstream media outlets in Guwahati not to glorify the militants (beaming live coverage of Paresh Barua) along with their relentless unsolicited threats,” concluded the statement.
*The writer is a Guwahati-based senior journalist
