The proscribed United National Liberation Front (UNLF) has termed the recent death penalty verdict awarded in absentia to Ulfa leader Paresh Barua as a conspiracy of the Sheikh Hasina-led Bangladesh government with India.
A report published in the Times of India on Tuesday said: “The UNLF has termed the judgment a hasty and subjudice action of the Sheikh Hasina-led Bangladesh government conspiring with New Delhi, in its Indian appeasement policy."
"This is in total disregard of the heart-touching history of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, which was attained by Bangladeshi people with a hard-fought full-scale war under the Mukti Bahini against the-then notorious military junta," In a statement on Monday, the UNLF said.
Opposing the judgement, UNLF statement added: "UNLF condemns this unjust verdict and all the right thinking people of the world including the Bangladeshi people should condemn it. The UNLF pledges support and endorses the appeal of the Ulfa (I) chairman Abhijit Asom to the Bangladesh government to reconsider and withdraw the verdict."
The government of a young, liberated and civilized nation (Bangladesh) must not forget the hospitality of the people of WESEA (especially those of Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura) who shared the pain and hardships of millions of Bangladeshis refugees with food, clothing and shelter during the days of the Liberation War, it also said.
A special court in Chittagong on Thursday awarded death penalty to Ulfa leader Paresh Barua in absentia, along with 13 other Bangladeshi nationals, for smuggling in 10 truckloads of firearms in 2004.
The consignment was meant for Ulfa and Barua was to receive it.
