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Assam : Renewed push for ULFA talks - Focus on ‘sovereignty’ |
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The ULFA’s demand for inclusion of “sovereignty” in the truce agenda got a push on March 9 with a group of prominent citizens of Assam deciding to take up the issue with the Centre.
The newly-formed group, having writer Mamoni Raisom Goswami as its president, will soon submit memoranda to New Delhi and Dispur, urging them to concede to the ULFA’s demand in order to extricate the peace process from the “morass of technicalities”.
The group, christened Nagarik Shanti Mancha, Asom, aims to work as a non-partisan pressure group to bring the contending parties to the peace table, its working president, Syed Nurur Rahman, said. Rahman, a former family court principal judge, said the forum would meet soon to work out a strategy to give a fresh lease of life to the staggering peace process.
Global tea meet in Guwahati
Bowing to pressure from various quarters, New Delhi has finally announced that the international tea convention, so long embroiled in controversy, would finally be held in Guwahati.
Making the announcement in Guwahti on March 9, Union minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had personally given him an assurance that problems of accommodation and security issues would be dealt with.
The Centre had initially promised to hold the convention in Guwahati, but later decided on Calcutta, citing poor hotel facilities in the Assam capital as the reason.
State commerce and industries minister Pradyut Bordoloi had, however, fought back against the Centre’s decision and even engaged in a verbal duel over the issue when Ramesh visited the state last month.
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