ISI considered ULFA's Paresh Baruah prize catch who couldn't be allowed to get offended: Book

"ULFA: The Mirage of Dawn" by seasoned journalist Rajeev Bhattacharyya traces the journey of the outlawed group from its inception in the late 1970s to the present, when peace is being negotiated between a faction led by Arabinda Rajkhowa and the Centre. But the ISI "knew that Baruah was a prize catch who could not be allowed to get offended". The agency knew that many benefits could be reaped from the ULFA, including access to other separatist groups from the northeast who could be trained in Pakistan, the book, which was launched here Saturday, claims. It also says that Lt Gen Asfaq Pervez Kayani, who was later appointed chief of ISI, interacted and shook hands with a batch of ULFA functionaries when they were undergoing training in that country. The book also describes how Baruah was imprisoned for over two months in Bangladesh by the country's intelligence agency Directorate General of Forces Intelligence.