India :Northeast radical group leader detained by Myanmar

India Sunday said that Myanmar has detained a top-ranking leader of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), an insurgent group based in the northeastern state of Assam, and an Indian journalist. "We have information that Jivan Moran and an Indian journalist were detained in Myanmar. But we have no information about the detention of Paresh Baruah (self-styled commander-in-chief of ULFA) ," Indian Home Secretary R.K. Singh told the media. Moran, the second-in-command of the hardline faction of the ULFA led by Baruah, and the detained journalist with a Assam-based daily are in custody in eastern Myanmar. The ULFA, a radical group from Assam, seeks to establish a sovereign state via an armed struggle. The Indian government banned ULFA in 1990 and classifies it as a terrorist group, while the U.S. State Department lists it under "Other groups of concern". There have been recent reports of ULFA's moderate faction holding negotiations with the Indian government even though the hardline faction rejects any such bid.