Assam Timeline - Year 1991

January 3	Security forces arrest 26 suspected United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) terrorists from different parts of the State.
January 5	Security forces arrest 19 ULFA terrorists along with four DBBL guns, one SBBL gun and three hand grenades from various places in Assam.
January 6	ULFA ‘commander’ Megha Phukan is arrested by the army from Gohainbari in the Lakhimpur district.
January 7	Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, in a statement in the Rajya Sabha (Lower House of the Indian Parliament), states that the ULFA has linkages with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
January 8	Security forces arrest 53 ULFA terrorists from different parts of the State and recover three cars, a motorcycle, four SBBL guns, two DBBL guns, one pistol, one .22 rifle, one revolver and some documents from them.
January 20	29 ULFA terrorists are arrested from various places in Assam.
January 27	ULFA kills a civilian at Vidhyapur-Rabhapara in the Bongaigaon district and another at Sagalsarai in Barpeta district.
January 27	37 ULFA terrorists are arrested from various parts of the State.
February 16	ULFA ‘central publicity secretary’ Sidhartha Phukan states that the outfit would not sit for any dialogue with the Assam Government till the Union Government continues with ‘army terrorism’ by imposing ‘Black Acts’ on the unarmed people of Assam.
February 25	The Union Government appoints a three-member committee of experts, headed by a retired Indian Administrative Service officer Dr. Bhupinder Singh, to report on the state of the plains tribes in Assam.
February 28	ULFA announces a unilateral cease-fire with immediate effect in view of the ongoing school examination in Assam.
March 3	34 ULFA terrorists are arrested by the security forces from various parts of the State.
March 4	30 ULFA terrorists are arrested from different parts of Assam.
March 10	19 suspected ULFA terrorists are arrested from various places of the Dibrugarh, Goalpara and Sonitpur districts.
March 20	An ULFA terrorist and one soldier are killed in an encounter at Hatigaon in the Goalpara district. A sum of Rupees 20,000 is recovered from the slain terrorist’s possession.
March 28	21 suspected ULFA terrorists are arrested from different parts of the State.
March 29	25 suspected ULFA terrorists are arrested from different parts of Assam.
March 31	162 ULFA terrorists surrender along with a large quantity of arms and ammunition before the Assam Governor, Loknath Misra, at Dodabhat in the Lakhimpur district.
April 4	Bodo Security Force terrorists attack a meeting of the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) and kill six activists at Dohora Hatigaon in the Darrang district.
June 14	ULFA ‘commander’ Megha Phuakan, under detention at the Tezpur jail, escapes in broad daylight after exploding a grenade in the jail premises.
June 21	Tinsukia district Congress (I) Committee vice-president, Rohini Bora, abducted earlier on June 20 by ULFA terrorists, is killed at an unspecified place.
June 26	Five ULFA cadres, including Dibrugarh ‘district commander’ Saurav Gogoi and ‘chairman’ Jugal Kishore Mahanta, escape from the Dibrugarh jail.
July 1	ULFA terrorists abduct 15 high-ranking officials, including a Soviet Coal expert Sergei Gritchenko, working for Coal India Ltd. from Ledo, S.K. Tiwari, Commissioner (Personal) from Guwahati, eight ONGC officers from Jorhat and Sibsagar and M.M. Das ADC (Darrang) from Mangoldoi.
July 9	Assam Government releases 38 ULFA cadres from various district jails of the State.
July 9	Media reports say the Soviet Coal expert, Sergei Gritchenko, is killed by his ULFA abductors at an unspecified place.
July 10	ONGC Chief Geo-physicist (Eastern region), Bhalanath Jaiswal, is released by the ULFA at Jorhat in exchange for the release of six ULFA detenus.
July 15	Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, speaking in Delhi, clarifies that the Union Government will not interfere in the Hiteswar Saikia Government’s efforts to resolve the ULFA problem.
July 27	Three civilians are killed when their vehicle is blown up during a powerful explosion at Dipilachowk in the Darrang district.
August 14	Ten police personnel are killed and the Nagaland Assembly Speaker, Thenucho, sustains injuries during an ambush by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland terrorists at Lahorijan in the Karbi Anglong district.
August 21	Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia, speaking to the press in Guwahati, states that 500 police personnel recruited during the last five years has links with the ULFA.
August 27	Samar Brahma Chowdhury, former Assam minister and the Chairman of the Plains Tribe Council of Assam, his 20 year-old son and a security guard are killed in an attack by the Bodo Security Force terrorists at his residence in Kokrajhar.
September 15	Army launches Operation Rhino in Assam.
September 27	Army arrests 69 ULFA terrorists from various parts of the State.
October 6	Union Minister of State for Home, M M Jacob, says in Kozhikode that the Centre has evidence to prove that ULFA cadres have undergone training in subversive activities in Bangladesh, Burma and have also obtained Chinese arms.
October 10	56 suspected ULFA terrorists are arrested from different places of the State.
October 13	21 people are killed during a bomb explosion on a train, engineered by the Bodo Security Force terrorists.
October 22	17 suspected ULFA terrorists surrender before the security forces at Bardalani in the Sonitpur district.
October 27	ULFA terrorists kill Nitya Dutta, Deputy Superintendent Police (Fire Service), at a restaurant in Guwahati.
October 27	40 suspected ULFA terrorists are arrested from different parts of Assam.
October 29	Two top ULFA leaders, Megha Phukan and Anirban Hazarika, are killed in an encounter with the security forces at Narayanpur in the Lakhimpur district, while four other terrorists accompanying the duo are arrested.
October 29	42 ULFA terrorists surrender at Dolaghat in the Lakhimpur district; 34 others are arrested from different parts of the State.
November 1	Four civilians are killed and 40 others sustain injuries during a powerful bomb explosion in a Guwahati bound private bus at Barpeta.
November 1	Three police personnel are killed as terrorists blow up a vehicle of the Assam Police Task Force patrol party at Udalguri in Kokrajhar district.
November 2	Five persons are killed and 30 others sustain injuries in a bomb explosion at Uzan Bazaar in the Guwahati city.
November 8	Three persons are killed and 34 others sustain injuries during a bomb explosion at the Tangla Weekly market in Darrang district.
November 14	32 suspected ULFA terrorists are arrested from different parts of the State.
November 15	Following a four-day operation, the Army recovers 300 assorted arms and .315 rifles from the forest areas of Karbi Anglong district.
November 18	ULFA ‘general secretary’ Anup Chetia is arrested from a hotel in Calcutta, capital city of West Bengal.
November 20	56 suspected ULFA terrorists are arrested from different parts of Assam.
November 25	Assam Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia, talking to newsmen in Guwahati, claims to have established indirect contact with ULFA ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa for a dialogue within the framework of the Indian Constitution.
November 28	Suspected Bodo terrorists kill two civilians at Gualbeel village in the Nalbari district.
November 28	62 ULFA terrorists are arrested from different parts of Assam.
November 29	Seven hardcore ULFA terrorists are arrested from Bangalore, capital city of Karnataka in southern India.
December 4	26 ULFA cadres surrender at an army camp near Nagaon.
December 8	21 suspected ULFA terrorists are arrested in Assam.
December 14	37 suspected ULFA terrorists are arrested from different parts of the State.
December 16	ULFA releases six hostages after 269 days of captivity.
December 17	ULFA announces a unilateral and indefinite cease-fire.
December 21	ULFA ‘vice chairman’ Pradip Gogoi is arrested from a hotel in Guwahati.
December 22	38 suspected ULFA terrorists are arrested from different parts of Assam.
December 26	34 ULFA terrorists are arrested from different parts of the State.
December 27	132 suspected ULFA terrorists surrender before the Army in Dhemaji district.