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Assam : Safe transit to rebels for talks

	December 26, 2005

The Assam Government has decided to offer safe passage to the ULFA rebels who are participating in the ongoing peace process with New Delhi. The decision is considered a step forward in the promotion of the peace process.



Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi made the announcement on December 20 at a seminar on “Road to Peace and Progress in South Asia: Learning from the Neighbourhood.”



Writer Mamoni Raisom Goswami listed “growing unemployment, erosion of Assamese pride and exploitation by the Centre” among the factors that led to ULFA”s birth.



British Deputy High Commissioner Andrew Hall observed that the conflicts in the north-eastern region had thrown up “difficult dilemmas” for the Centre.





Sudden crackdown jolts ULFA



Meanhile, Assam police busted several camps of the banned ULFA in Golaghat and Jorhat in a concerted crackdown despite the militant group engaging mediators to do the spadework for peace talks with Delhi. No militant was killed, but the police seized nearly three kg of RDX and one-and-a-half kg of TNT from the camps.



The police justified the operation by saying that the outfit was trying to regroup in several places after the start of the nascent peace process. The first ULFA hideout to be targeted was the one at Merapani, in Golaghat district. The police began a second operation last week on Dec. 23 and seized the explosives from another camp on the outskirts of Jorhat town.



Despite the start of the peace process, Delhi and the ULFA are yet to sign a ceasefire pact. The police said they had decided to step up vigil against the outfit which is taking advantage of the scaling down of operations after the commencement of the peace process to regroup in the big way in Upper Assam districts of Golaghat, Jorhat and Sivasagar.





Karbi council comes clean on secret pact



Under fire from the Opposition for its “clandestine pact” with the militant Dima Halam Daogah (DHD), the Congress on Dec. 18 claimed to have only given consent to some of its proposals.



George Mallik, executive member of the Congress-ruled Karbi Anglong Autonomous District Council and one of the signatories in the contentious letter to the outfit, said the DHD had come up with some proposals for the development of certain Dimasa-inhabited areas. One of its members, Bhupen Hasnu, placed the set of proposals before the council.



He said since the demands pertained to development, whatever the council could do was conveyed to the DHD through the letter.

Karbi council spokesperson S. Ronghang said the assurances had been given to the DHD in “good spirit with the objective of facilitating their return to the mainstream”.



Taking strong exception to the letter, almost all the major opposition parties said they would take up the issue with the Centre and the Election Commission.



Mallik said since the DHD did not reply to the letter, the matter ended there. He said there was nothing wrong in adhering to the demands for development from a militant outfit if it had a ceasefire pact with the government.





Gogoi blows poll bugle



Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Dec. 19 blew the Congress’s election bugle in Upper Assam, wooing the ethnic communities with his projections of the tribal autonomous councils as proof of his government’s “genuine concern” for the indigenous tribes.



Gogoi vowed to do “everything possible” for their progress at a public rally organised by the Sonowal-Kachari Students’ Union to welcome the setting up of the Sonowal-Kachari Autonom-ous Council. Its jurisdiction will extend over non-contiguous areas of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji districts.



The council, constituted on March 4 with the signing of an MoU between Sonowal-Kachari organisations and Dispur, was launched on September 19 with a gazette notification. Members of the council took oath in two phases on September 23 and November 9.



Gogoi said the new councils were evidence of the Congress’s commitment to the welfare of the tribals.



“During their two terms the AGP did not do a thing for the development of the ethnic population. They only made false promises. Our government, on the other hand, initiated several measures for the development of our state such as the Buniyad, Randhanjyoti, Jibanjyoti, Dharmajyoti schemes. I know this is not enough, we will have to do more and for that we need your support,” Gogoi said.



Bharat Narah, a member of the Gogoi cabinet, added that Dispur had taken up a slew of development schemes to be implemented through the new council. “We have already allocated a sum of Rs 1 crore for the council. We will also make budgetary provisions of Rs 10 lakh for each village under the council during the next state budget. We have also decided to reserve jobs under the state services.”



Its sights firmly set on the Assembly polls next year, the ruling Congress has doled out what it claimed was the largest quantum of benefits to Assam government employees “ a 5.1 per cent increase in pay and pension.



Making the announcement in Guwahati on Dec. 20, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi described the largesse as a “New Year gift” to employees.



It was, he said, in recognition of the “service and co-operation” extended to the government. He hoped the bonanza would inspire employees to maintain a healthy work culture.



The move will put an additional burden of Rs 307 crore annually on the exchequer and benefit 4.5 lakh employees and nearly 2.5 lakh pensioners.



The hike was effected by converting 50 per cent of the dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief into dearness pay and dearness pension.



Dispur also decided to extend the benefit to college teachers enjoying UGC pay scales and those in the judicial services. Public sector undertakings were, however, not brought under the purview of the new structure.