Guwahati, Aug. 11 -- The United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN/GPRN-Yung Aung faction) have issued a joint statement urging people across the Northeast to boycott India's Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

The appeal targets the region they refer to as WESEA, encompassing parts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Nagaland.

In the statement released on Saturday, the two insurgent outfits dismissed Independence Day as a "so-called celebration of freedom" that they claim holds no relevance for the people of the region.

They argued that "freedom cannot exist on an oppressed land," accusing Indian forces of imposing state control through decades of violence a...