Paresh Baruah

Paresh Baruah is an Assamese separatist militant leader and the CS of the ULFA, which is fighting for the separation of Assam from India. Baruah is one of the founding members of the ULFA and single handedly driven away the outfit after Arabinda Rajkhowa led Pro-truce ended with defuncting their ideological concept following years long lateral talks with Indian Union.

Paresh Baruah was born in 1957 at Jeraigaon, Chabua of Dibrugarh district, Assam, India to a Matak family.

Baruah completed his HSLC from Panitola High School in 1974 and HS from Tinsukia College in 1976 with 1st Division in both exams. He joined ULFA while perusing his Bachelor's degree study.

In December 2010, Paresh e-mailed the Indo-Asian News Service reporting that his elder son (19) has been abducted in Bangladesh "to exert mental pressure on his family and to force him to surrender." Later, the ULFA said that his son was beaten sorely by the kidnappers "to pressure him to disclose his father's whereabouts, sources of income and business", but was allowed to leave after painstaking interrogation. The organisation further claimed that Baruah's son was terrified to stay tight-lipped about his kidnapping. In his e-mail, Baruah also wrote:

"My son is not important or bigger than my people and the cause for which we are struggling. No one can make me or my family weak just because my son has been kidnapped, and let me tell you, we are prepared to sacrifice our son but at no cost I would [sic] waiver on my stand."

He described the incident as a stratagem of Indian officials but they denied the accusation.

Times of Assam has claimed that the Indian intelligent agencies may be trying to ferret out Baruah by closely monitoring Sunlee. The newspaper further claimed that numerous pictures of Sunlee were gathered by the intelligence agencies in early 2012. The Union Home Secretary of India has said that Baruah's family is not desirous to return to India, because of their stiff attitude. A collaborator of Baruah has said that two aides of Arabinda Rajkhowa were sent to Bangladesh to convince his and Anup Chetia's family to come back to India.

In 2004, Baruah was constantly in touch with some academics including Indira Goswami and numerous organisations, but he was switched to a secure location to undergo a surgery due to a medical emergency, which temporarily halted the communication. Around 2008, he was again in frequent e-mail communication with the Assamese author, Indira Goswami. She acted as a mediator in proposed peace talks between ULFA leaders and the government of India. He was alleged to have insisted on the Independence of Assam, and the peace talks did not take place.