The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has established an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal to examine whether the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), including all its factions and front organizations, should continue to be classified as an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Headed by Justice Michael Zothankhuma of the Gauhati High Court, the tribunal’s formation follows the MHA’s recent extension of ULFA’s ban for five more years. The group has been accused of engaging in activities detrimental to India’s sovereignty, including extortion, violence, and collaboration with other insurgent groups to further its secessionist agenda.

Initially banned in 1990, ULFA’s prohibition has been periodically renewed, with the latest extension declared on November 27, 2024. The MHA, in its notification, stated that ULFA had continued its efforts to separate Assam from India, perpetrating criminal activities such as bombings and the illegal possession of arms. Between November 2019 and July 2024, ULFA was linked to 16 criminal cases, including the use of explosives ahead of Independence Day 2024.

In the past five years, the group has faced significant setbacks, with three of its hardcore members killed in security operations, 56 cadres arrested, and 63 surrendering. Additionally, authorities have recovered 27 weapons, 550 rounds of ammunition, nine grenades, and two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from ULFA operatives.

ULFA remains one of 17 organizations declared unlawful under the UAPA. Other banned groups include the Popular Front of India (PFI), the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), and several extremist factions from Manipur, Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir, and Nagaland.

(Inputs from ANI)