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Assam peace talks : Delhi rejects ULFA’s claim

	September 24, 2007

New Delhi on Sept. 17 dismissed ULFA’s claim about it being indifferent to overtures by the outfit for peace talks as yet another ploy to buy time.



The government is taking ULFA’s latest statement of intent - that commander-in-chief Paresh Barua or chairman Arabinda Rajkho¬wa would readily sit for talks, conditions permitting - with more than a pinch of salt since it comes within weeks of its activists killing more Hindi-speaking labourers.



While weighing options on how to restore peace in Assam, New Delhi is sceptical of ULFA’s claim that either Rajkhowa or Barua would have engaged in negotiations by now had Delhi been more responsive.



Several attempts to bring ULFA leaders to the negotiating table for “direct talks” with Delhi have failed in the past year.



In last week’s edition of its bulletin, Freedom, ULFA com¬plained that Delhi was not addressing the causes of the stalemate in the negotiations. Again, in the latest edition, it said the government was harping on old issues instead of addressing the causes of the stalemate.



“Look at the history of ULFA and observe that whenever it suffers losses, it twists its statements and evinces readiness for talks,” said a Home Ministry source. Home Ministry officials said the Centre had walked the extra mile for peace; it was ULFA itself which has not responded, and had instead slaughtered innocent civilians.



The outfit’s track record indicates that Delhi’s scepticism is not without justification. Over the past seven months, the outfit has suffered at the hands of the army and paramilitary forces, not to mention Assam police.



Last year, when the going became tough for the outfit, it agreed to negotiations. However, it gained time while spelling out conditions for the talks, and its cadre was able to regroup.



Many in the government see ULFA’s move to be a response to pressure from Bangladesh on the outfit. The pressure has built up after talks between India and Bangladesh were held at the Home Secretary level.



At these discussions, Dhaka conceded for the first time that ULFA leaders were indeed in that country and that its government would crack down on all terrorist groups.



ULFA on Sept. 16 had said that either chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa or commander-in-chief Paresh Barua would have happily sat for peace talks by now, but for an unresponsive government.



The statement came in the wake of reports about how its handpicked team of mediators - the People’s Consultative Group (PCG) - was planning to mount pressure on the militant leaders for “direct talks” with Delhi instead of putting the onus on the government once again.



The PCG was to have sent a formal letter to the outfit when its co-ordinator, writer Mamoni Raisom Goswami, suffered a mild cerebral stroke and had to be hospitalised.



ULFA complained in the latest edition of its bulletin, Freedom, that Delhi was harping on old issues instead of address¬ing the causes of the stalemate.



The outfit said it made its three conditions known to the government. The three demands are a formal announcement by the government to hold talks on “restoration of Assam’s sovereignty”, information on the whereabouts of its members who went missing after Bhutan’s military operation and the release of its jailed central committee members.



Reacting to the latest developments, the writer-turned mediator, Goswami, said she was still hopeful of her initiative bearing fruit. “I am okay now and will be back among my people soon. I am grateful to the people for their support and care. I will continue my peace mission.”





ULFA top gun caught in transit



In a major breakthrough in its fight against insurgency, security forces arrested a top ULFA leader, Prabal Neog, last week on Sept. 17. Neog who was designated as the commander of ULFA’s most potent combat unit 28 Battalion, used to order his men to kill and maim Hindi-speaking people.



A police team arrested Prabal along with his wife Purabi and infant son Rajdeep when they were headed for Itanagar in Arun¬achal Pradesh via Tezpur in Sonitpur district. The police had information that a “very senior ULFA cadre” would be passing by and were waiting for their catch since early morning.



When policemen stopped a Tata Indica speeding down the highway at Mission Chariali in Tezpur, about 180km from Guwahati, they found one of the most-wanted militants of the Northeast unarmed and looking quite the picture of domesticity with wife and child beside him.



The police said Neog’s reaction to the arrest took them by surprise. “He did not put up any physical resistance. He only pleaded, ‘I will not surrender, please shoot me’,” a police officer involved in the operation said.



The militant leader was carrying Rs 2.7 lakh in cash and a mobile phone. An innerline permit - mandatory for entry into Arunachal Pradesh - was also found on him. The permit was issued in Naharlagun on March 3 with a year’s validity.



The 28 Battalion has lost several leaders in recent months, but Prabal is said to be the biggest catch for security forces since counter-insurgency operations against ULFA resumed earlier this year after a brief period of cessation of hostilities from both sides.



Some of Prabal’s comrades - Charan Majhi, Debojit Konwar, Palashmoni Rajbonshi, Ulum Bhuyan and Amar Tanti - were all gunned down in operations by security forces this year. One leader, Dibakar Moran, was arrested and another, Ghanakanta Bora, surrendered recently.



Prabal, alias Benudhar Bora, is from Tarajan village in Makum subdivision of Tinsukia district and has been with ULFA since 1991. He and Jiten Dutta, commandant of the Charlie compa¬ny of the 28 Battalion, masterminded the attacks on Hindi-speak¬ing people in January. As many as 70 people died in that chain of attacks.



Prabal had once been demoted from the rank of commander of 28 Battalion for failing to execute retaliatory strikes on secur¬ity forces after the military operation in Bhutan. He was back at the helm after the arrest of Mrinal Hazarika, who had taken over from him.



Hours after the big catch in Tezpur, the police arrested a senior member of the Manab Adhikar Samgram Samiti - a rights organisation that allegedly backs ULFA - and seized three switch¬es of programmable timer explosive devices from him.





ULFA fills Prabal ‘vacancy’



ULFA leadership has since has appointed Bijoy Das (alias Bijoy Chinese) as the new commanding officer of the outfit’s 28 Battalion after the arrest of self-styled lieutenant Prabal Neog.

A senior ULFA leader called up a section of the media in Upper Assam from a satellite phone and announced the decision taken by the ULFA leadership.



Bijoy Das, who hails from Nalbari district, had been hold¬ing the post of joint deputy commander of the battalion along with another senior ULFA leader, Bhaskar Hazarika. He was also working as an adjutant to Prabal Neog. Police claimed that Neog was a moderate who favoured a political solution to insurgency in Assam.







Black badge protest against army assault



Students from different colleges of Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district wore black badges on Sept. 20 in protest against assault by the army on campus on Sept. 19.



It is alleged that a team of soldiers in mufti entered the Margherita College campus and beat up seven students on the suspicion that they had links with ULFA.



A four-member army team, led by Capt. Tarun Kharb from the Margherita-based camp of the 19 Kumaon Regiment, entered the campus and assaulted the students after calling them out from their classrooms.



The incident immediately sparked a furore among the stud¬ents’ community. The All Assam Students Union is leading the protests.



However, Jogesh Baruah, the sub-divisional officer (civil) of Margherita subdivision, has announced that the army has ten¬dered an apology to the students of Margherita College for the unsavoury incident.



Commanding Officer of the 19 Kumaon Regiment, Col Virendra Vats, has tendered the apology “for the ill behaviour of his men” in front of Baruah, the college officials, representatives of students organisations and the students.