The New Nation - Internet Edition

Special Correspondent

Dhaka apparently plans to crack down on Indian insurgent groups in Bangladesh in the run-up to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India next month, says Kolkata daily The Telegraph in a report published on Friday.

Since last year, there had been joint efforts by the border forces of both countries to contain militancy and catch their leaders.

The daily quoting Indian Home Ministry sources said Ulfa foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury and finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika had been arrested by Bangladesh authorities. They claimed that Barua too would be arrested if and when he returned to Bangladesh.

"The next targets are Paresh Barua and (Ulfa chairman) Arabinda Rajkhowa, along with others like Ranjan Daimary of the National Democratic Front of Boroland and Jeevan Singh of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation," The telegraph reported adding that for most of these years, Dhaka had refused to acknowledge the presence of northeastern militant leaders on Bangladeshi soil..

According to The Telegraph report Ulfa chief Paresh Barua is now in China to strike an arms deal with a Chinese company. Barua is engaged in gun-running in Bangladesh besides plotting terror attacks in Assam, the report claims.

The Ulfa commander-in-chief had visited Yunan last year too and this is his third visit to China in two years, the Telegraph reported quoting Indian Home Ministry officials. Barua had also been accused of having links with the now-defeated Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka. Documents found in Assam showed "Ulfa paid Rs 2.3 million to the LTTE towards purchase of weapons", an Indian army commander was quoted as saying on the official website of the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry last month.

In another report, The Assam Tribune reported Friday that following confirmation of detention of two top ULFA leaders by Bangladesh, India on Thursday opened all diplomatic channels to get them back into the country.

The two ULFA leaders were picked up from Uttara area in Dhaka in a raid by a group of eight people wearing civilian cloths . The suspected sleuths also seized their Bangladeshi passports and voter identity cards besides vital documents at the time of the raid, The Assam Tribune reported from Guwahati.