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Assam : Prospects of talks with ULFA

	April 11, 2005

New Delhi has made it clear to ULFA, one of the major militant outfit in Assam, that it will not consider any pre-condition for talks with the banned outfit.



Highly placed sources in the Government told newspersons in New Delhi on April 9 that this had been conveyed in clear terms to Assamese writer Indira Goswami, to be relayed to the ULFA leaders who are in telephonic touch with her.



ULFA leadership has been demanding that ‘sovereignty’ of Assam be on the agenda. “Assam’s sovereignty is not negotiable”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said during his visit to the state some time ago.

ULFA has also been demanding through Goswami that the Prime minister himself address a letter to its leaders. But the Government will have none of this.

“There is no question of the Prime Minister writing a letter. National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan who has written the letter, represents the Government of India,” said a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

While the Government insists that the ball is in the ULFA court. Goswami said she is awaiting a further communication from the Government in the second half of this month.



Gogoi wants militant outfits to take part in elections

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has again urged the two major militant outfits, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), to take part in the Assembly elections scheduled for May next year.

At a Congress rally held at the Judges’ Field, Gogoi said that both outfits should give up arms and contest the polls. “If they really love Assam, they should contest the polls to capture power and serve the people through a democratic process.”

The rally was organised to kick start the preparations for the Assembly polls.

Gogoi said that violence would not lead to any solution and peace would remain a far cry in Assam if the militant outfits did not shun the path of violence and take part in the democratic process.

The AICC observer in-charge of the State, Digvijay Singh, said the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre was ready to hold unconditional talks with all militant outfits including the ULFA. He appealed to them to shun the path of violence and come forward to the negotiating table without any precondition.

He also urged the ULFA to realise that blowing up oil pipelines and transformers could only be detrimental to the interests of the State.

Singh criticised the Opposition Asom Gana Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying the people of Assam had rejected them. Though the AGP came to power twice, the people had rejected the regional party because of corruption and inefficiency.



ULFA climb down on the pre-conditions

The three ULFA pre-conditions for talks, which the GOI has always rejected are :

1. Negotiate with GOI in a foreign land.

2. Negotiate in the presence of UN officials.

3. Negotiation agenda should include the issue of sovereignty of Assam.

The ULFA in the period following the October 2004 Militancy gave up the first two pre-conditions. But it retained the third pre-condition on the claim that was the main point of its twenty-five year old struggle and that it cannot give it up.