by Bhupen Goswami 

GUWAHATI : ULFA (I) today made it clear that the banned outfit is going to kill two officials of the abducted “Quipo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited” next week. ULFA (I) publicity wing member Rumel Amsom said in an emailed statement that the organization has decided to take action against both officials as they have not received any positive response from oil drilling firm Pipeco Oil and Gas Infrastructure Ltd. ULFA (I) rebels on 21 December 2020 kidnapped radio operator Ram Kumar and Drilling Superintendent Pranav Kumar Gogoi from Kumchaikha hydrocarbon drilling site in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

While Gogoi is a resident of Sivasagar in Upper Assam, Kumar is a resident of Bihar.

“Quipo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited” operates oil and gas drilling sites in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The Paresh Barua-led rebel group further said that ULFA (I) has banned all activities of “Quipo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited” in Southeast Asia. “We have called upon the employees of the company to refrain from doing their allotted work and press the Oil India Limited (oil) officers to create new jobs,” the statement said. ULFA (I) chief Paresh Baruah had reportedly asked New Delhi-based Nip Oil to pay Rs 20 crore for the release of both employees. However, the banned United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent has warned that only the chief ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh will be responsible if two kidnapped employees of a private oil drilling company die in an “unwanted incident”.

In a release issued on Saturday, the banned outfit accused cms of both states of using a “delay strategy” for the safe release of employees of Quipo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Ltd., a Delhi-run company. “The chief ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are launching military operations instead of finding a way to exchange prisoners,” ULFA-I said in a release. It further said, “The chief Minister of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh talked about starting the operation.

The Heads of Unified Command have been entrusted with the task of making the operation a success along with intelligence installations of defence, military, civil and Assam police. In these circumstances, we are sure that instead of leaving the officers alive, the entire blame will be imposed on ULFA by killing both in the operation, ulfa-I said in the release.

“Therefore, it is certain that during the operation initiated by unified command in the coming days, two Quipo employees may die in an unwanted event,” the release added. If that happens, the entire blame will have to be raised by the CM and the Indian forces of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. On January 28, ULFA-I had issued a statement giving Quipo a february 16 deadline to secure the release of its employees. If the deadline is not met. The organization warned that it would take action against Kumar, a resident of Bihar. On January 20, ULFA-I had released a video of two abducted employees, where they had appealed to the Chief Ministers of Assam and Bihar to secure their release.