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Assam : ULFA sets terms for talks |
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In neighbouring Assam which is also facing militancy problem, another major extremist outfit, United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), has expressed its readiness for talks with the Centre and the State if a unilateral ceasefire is declared by the Government.
The Ulfa may declare a truce to pave the way for talks if the Centre and the state government “take the initiative of declaring a unilateral ceasefire first”.
Disclosing this, arrested Ulfa vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi said he could take the “initiative of bringing the parties concerned to the negotiating table if I am authorised to do so by my (Ulfa’s) central leadership.” However, since Gogoi has lost touch with the Ulfa since his arrest in Calcutta in April 1998, a top official of the state home department said he would not “know much about the Ulfa’s thought processes today”.
But senior functionaries of the Kamrup district jail where Gogoi has been lodged for more than four years now told newspersons that “he has been keeping himself abreast with all relevant developments,” implying that his suggestion for a “unilateral ceasefire from the government’s side may carry some weight”. An edition of Ulfa’s fortnightly mouthpiece Freedom, which was released on the internet this afternoon, said the ongoing talks between the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) and the Centre would be an “acid test” of “Indian sincerity”. It said the outfit has the patience to wait till the “Indo-Naga” conflict was resolved.
Speaking to newspersons, the Ulfa vice-chairman exhorted the people of the state to take a cue from the Naga Hoho for exerting pressure on the Centre to create an atmosphere for negotiations through a unilateral ceasefire.
He said for any dialogue, the Centre and the state government must establish their “goodwill and sincerity” by unilaterally declaring cessation of “hostilities and repressive action.”
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