Guwahati, Aug. 11 -- Two of the banned insurgent outfits in the Northeast, the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland/Government of the People's Republic of Nagaland (Yung Aung faction)- have jointly announced a boycott of India's Independence Day celebrations on August 15 across the region they call WESEA (Western South East Asia), covering parts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland.
In a joint statement issued the outfits denounced August 15 as a "so-called celebration of freedom" which, they said, holds no meaning for the people of WESEA.
"Freedom cannot exist on an oppressed land," the statement read, adding that the day serves only as a reminder of "the relentl...