Will take 'ultimate step' on 2 abducted Quippo men next week:

The New Delhi-based companywas hired by Oil India Limited OIL for drilling operations.The ULFAI asked other employees of Quippo to stayaway from work and pressure OIL to rehabilitate them.If our instructions are ignored, then in the case ofany unfortunate situation, the employees, Quippo authorities,OIL, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments will beresponsible for the consequences, the outfit said in theemail written in Assamese.Sarma urged ULFAIs Commander in Chief Paresh Baruawith folded hands to release the two men unharmed.The two abducted men are Drilling SuperintendentPranab Kumar Gogoi and Radio Operator Ram Kumar.

The banned ULFA (Independent)on Friday threatened to take the ''ultimate step'' on the twoemployees of Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited nextweek, prompting senior Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma toappeal to it to release them unharmed.

The two men were kidnapped by the insurgent outfit onDecember 21 last year from Kumchaikha hydrocarbon drillingsite near Innao in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The ULFA(I) in an email to PTI said that talks withthe Quippo authorities held from February 16 to 19 have''failed to reach any favourable conclusion and an ultimatestep on the two will be taken next week''.

The insurgent outfit reportedly demanded a ransom ofRs 20 crore from Quippo for their release and had set February16 as the deadline for paying it. The New Delhi-based companywas hired by Oil India Limited (OIL) for drilling operations.

The ULFA(I) asked other employees of Quippo to stayaway from work and pressure OIL to rehabilitate them.

''If our instructions are ignored, then in the case ofany unfortunate situation, the employees, Quippo authorities,OIL, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments will beresponsible for the consequences,'' the outfit said in theemail written in Assamese.

Sarma urged ULFA(I)'s Commander in Chief Paresh Barua''with folded hands'' to release the two men unharmed.

The two abducted men are Drilling SuperintendentPranab Kumar Gogoi and Radio Operator Ram Kumar. While Gogoiis from Assam's Sivasagar district, Ram Kumar hails fromBihar.

Sarma said that in the case of any unfortunateincident, the world will again ''look upon the Assamese as(members of) Taliban. We do not want any further bloodshed onthe soil of India or Assam''.

The Taliban is a fundamentalist religious andpolitical organisation that emerged in Afghanistan in themid-1990s.

The family members of Gogoi and Kumar recently calledon Barua's brother who also appealed to the ULFA leader torelease the two.

The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) was formedin 1979 to establish a sovereign Assam through an armedmovement. Barua was once the chief of its military wing.

After a split in the organisation in 2011 over theleaderships decision to join peace talks with the government,he led a faction called ULFA (Independent).