United Liberation Front of Asom chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa on Wednesday sought an apology publicly from the families of the 13 schoolchildren killed in a tragic bomb blast masterminded by the Ulfa in northern Assam’s Dhemaji district on August 15, 2004.
However, not a single family member of the blast victims turned up to attend the meeting organised by the Ulfa to seek public apology.
In the public meeting at Dhemaji, where the outfit’s foreign secretary Sasa Choudhury, political adviser Bhimkanta Buragohain and cultural secretary Pranati Deka were present, Rajkhowa, currently on parole, asked for forgiveness from the families of the victims and the people. They also paid homage at the slain children’s memorial, erected at the site of the bomb blast.
As the families of the victims did not turn up, Rajkhowa, along with a 30-member delegation of the outfit, later visited the homes of the victims and sought forgiveness.
The victims of Ulfa violence had questioned the release of Ulfa leaders from jail while asking the government about their rights to justice.