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Assam : Peace talks with ULFA, CM offers safe passage |
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Upbeat about the success of the nascent peace process, the Assam Government has made up its mind on offering safe passage to ULFA militants in January to enable them to reunite with their families on Magh Bihu and possibly get an insight into the changed public mindset.
However, a senior official said the government had not decided for how long the safe-passage offer would be valid. ‘The period could even be more than a month, which was the duration for previous such offers.’
Offering safe passage, a term denoting freedom of movement without weapons, to militants during the major Assamese festivals has become a tradition in the state, albeit without any positive response from the outlawed militant outfit.
‘We expect a better response this time, considering the changing scenario,’ the official said. ‘Even they (ULFA militants) would probably like to come over and gauge public mood now that their outfit has agreed to hold talks.’
The ULFA leadership constituted the People’s Consultative Group (PCG), a team of mediators from diverse fields, to do the spadework for a formal dialogue with Delhi. The first round of preparatory talks in New Delhi last week has been described as a ‘good beginning’.
The official claimed that the Tarun Gogoi government approached Delhi with the safe-passage proposal and received its approval last week itself. According to reports, Delhi was overjoyed when ULFA constituted a team for talks. It did not take much time to give the nod to the government’s proposal for safe passage.
If all goes well, a team of officials from the Union Home Ministry could even visit Guwahati for the next round of talks with the consultative group. The decision, taken ‘in principle’, marks a break from tradition because all previous negotiations with militant groups have either been held abroad or in the capital. The objective behind the decision is ostensibly to convince the ULFA leadership of Delhi’s sincerity and commitment to the peace process.
On whether the latest offer of safe passage would be linked to surrenders, as on earlier occasions, the official said the government was not thinking along these lines this time. Dispur had in the past offered safe passage along with an appeal to lay down arms.
The nine-member People’s Consultative Group met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and senior bureaucrats, including national security adviser M.K. Narayanan, in the capital on October 26. Singh assured the group that all issues raised by ULFA would be discussed hereafter.
The second round of talks might, however, involve only officials of the Union Home Ministry. The source indicated that Narayanan might not attend the meeting. ‘We are working out the details and if everything goes according to plan, the next meeting will be held in Guwahati,’ he said.
Senior officials of the Union Home Ministry appear to be convinced about the ‘benefits’ of holding the meeting in Guwahati instead of following the established practice of inviting delegations to the capital.
The consultative group, which includes a lawyer, a doctor, a human rights activist and three journalists, has already announced that contentious issues like ULFA’s demand for the release of some of its incarcerated leaders would be taken up for discussion in the second round.
The group’s spokesman, lawyer Arup Borbora, described the first round of negotiations as a ‘good beginning’. Writer Mamoni Raisom Goswami and Rebati Phukan, a childhood friend of ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, are the two official ‘facilitators’ of the peace process.
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