The US has designated India's banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the Communist Party of India (Maoist) as Groups of Concern.
Washington, May 2 : The US has designated India's banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the Communist Party of India (Maoist) as Groups of Concern.
Besides these two, 41 other active groups from across the world figure in this list released by the US State Department's Country Reports on Terrorism, 2006 on Monday.
The report says that that Communist Party of India (Maoist), formed with the merger of the Maoist Communist Center of India (MCCI) and the People's War (PW) in September 2004, continues to employ violence to achieve its goals of peasant revolution, abolition of class hierarchies, and expansion of Maoist-controlled "liberated zones," eventually leading to the creation of an independent "Maoist" state.
It says that the CPI (Maoist) reportedly has a significant cadre of women. And, its important leaders include Ganapati (the PW leader from Andhra Pradesh), Pramod Mishra, Uma Shankar, and P.N.G. (alias Nathuni Mistry, arrested by Jharkhand police in 2002).
"Although difficult to assess (its strength) with any accuracy, media reports and local authorities suggest the CPI's (Maoist) membership may be as high as 31,000, including both hard-core militants and dedicated sympathizers," the report says.
It notes that the Maoist group has loose links to other such groups in the region, including the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), but does not appear dependent on outside sources of support.
On the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), the Country Report says it is an ethnic secessionist organization in Assam, which borders Bangladesh and Bhutan.
"The group's objective is an independent Assam. ULFA enjoyed widespread support in upper Assam in its initial years, especially from 1985 to 1992. ULFA's kidnappings, killings, and extortion led New Delhi to ban the group and start a military offensive against it in 1990, which forced it to go underground," says the report.
The Royal Bhutan Army's attack on ULFA camps in Bhutan in 2003, and the suspension of operations by Bodo tribal insurgent groups in Assam, also contributed to the group's decline.
"ULFA trains, finances, and equips its cadres for a "liberation struggle", while extortion helps finance military training and weapons purchases. ULFA conducts hit-and-run operations on security forces in Assam, selective assassinations, and explosions in public places," it adds.
The list of groups of Concern includes:
Al-Badhr Mujahedin (al-Badr)
Al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI)
Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB)
Anti-Imperialist Territorial Nuclei (NTA)
Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF)
Communist Party of India (Maoist)
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)/United People's Front
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR)
East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM)
First of October Antifascist Resistance Group (GRAPO)
Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami (HUJI)
Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami/Bangladesh (HUJI-B)
Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin (HIG)
Hizbul-Mujahedin (HM)
Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Islamic Army of Aden (IAA)
Islamic Great East Raiders-Front (IBDA-C)
Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade (IIPB)
Jamaatul-Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB)
Jamiat ul-Mujahedin (JUM)
Japanese Red Army (JRA)
Kumpulan Mujahedin Malaysia (KMM) ord's Resistance Army (LRA)
Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF)
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)
New Red Brigades/Communist Combatant Party (BR/PCC)
People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD)
Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM)
Red Hand Defenders (RHD)
Revolutionary Proletarian Initiative Nuclei (NIPR)
Revolutionary Struggle (RS)
Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen artyrs ( RSRSBCM)
Sipah-I-Sahaba/Pakistan (SSP)
Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR)
Al-Tawhid w'al Jihad (TWJ)
Tenrik Mifaz-E-Shariah Mohammadi (TNSM)
Tunisian Combatant Group (TCG)
Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) urkish Hizballah
Ulster Defense Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters (UDA/UFF)
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).
ANI