New Delhi, Mar 21: Despite the recent detente in Indo-Pak ties, the ISI is assisting the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to regroup in Bangladesh and seek revenge for the 'operation All Clear' by the Royal Bhutanese army which dealt a severe blow to the outfit, according to official sources. The ISI along with its Bangladesh counterpart Directorate General of Field Intelligence (DGFI) are helping the ULFA insurgents led by its ''Commander in-Chief'' Paresh Barua to regroup and strike back, the sources said. Parseh Barua is now based in a Bangladesh rifles camp at Srimangal in Bangladesh and receiving active support from the intelligence agencies to regroup the outfit. Paresh Barua was also trying to forge a working unity between the insurgent groups from the North East based in Bangladesh and a meeting of these groups was held recently in a posh locality of Dhaka, the sources said, adding, apart from him, ULFA's Raju Barua and other insurgent leaders attended the meeting. A stock-taking of the ULFA strength following the Bhutan debacle was undertaken and priority was given to the strategy to rejuvenate and regroup the scattered cadres, the sources said.


However, despite attempts by the ULFA leaders to boost the morale of the cadres, they are dejected by Paresh Barua's lavish lifestyle, the sources said, adding, these cadres argue that while they lead a tough life in the jungles, the leaders enjoy with their families under the patronage of ISI and DGFI. ''The cadres were agitated, when Paresh Barua in his recent Sainik Diwas speech claimed that the ULFA was ousted from Bhutan because of the indiscipline of the cadres and the presence of the families in the camps,'' the sources said. They said following 'Operation All Clear' several ULFA, Kamtapur Liberation Organisation and National Democratic Front of Bodoland cadres were either killed or arrested, while the rest including some top leaders have fled to Bangladesh which is a safe sanctuary for anti-India elements. Bureau Report