ULFA’s Paresh Barua sentenced to death in Bangladesh

A special court in Chittagong on Thursday awarded the death
penalty to Paresh Barua, chief of the breakaway United Liberation
Front of Asom faction, and 13 others, including two former
Bangladesh Ministers, in connection with an arms haul in 2004.
The police had seized 10 trucks carrying weapons and ammunition
from the state-owned Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd. jetty while
the arms were being offloaded from two fishing trawlers.
Investigations revealed weapons were manufactured in China and
were being shipped to the ULFA.
Paresh Barua and the former Secretary of the Industries Ministry,
Nurul Amin, have been absconding since the recovery, and the
court sentenced them in absentia.
Bangladesh Law Minister Anisul Huq hailed the judgment and said
it would act as a deterrent. Assam Home Secretary G.D. Tripathi
said the State government learnt of the sentence but he would not
be able comment unless it got a copy of the verdict.
Sashadhar Choudhury, the self-styled ‘Foreign Secretary’ of the
original ULFA, said any sentence passed by a court in India or
Bangladesh was of no significance.