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Delhi-ULFA talks : PMO doubts militant outfit’s sincerity |
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The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has expressed its doubts about whether the banned ULFA is serious about a dialogue for peace, while the militant group is becoming increasingly impatient at not receiving a response from Delhi to its letter.
The PMO’s concern about the ULFA leadership’s sincerity stems from the violence unleashed by the outfit even after writing to the government about its willingness to negotiate a settlement.
National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan voiced the government’s apprehensions during a meeting with writer Mamoni Raisom Goswami, who is mediating between Delhi and the militant leadership, a few days ago. “He (Narayanan) wanted to find out if ULFA was interested in peace talks and if they would participate in a dialogue, if invited”, Goswami said. “He even wanted me to write another letter to them”, she added.
The ULFA, on the other hand, questioned why Delhi had not even bothered to acknowledge receiving its letter.
The meeting between Narayanan and Goswami on September 1 followed the writer’s written appeal to the Prime Minister for the release of some jailed members of the militant group, which has stated that the final decision on talks cannot be taken without a quorum in its executive council.
Assam is willing to release the executive council members who are in prison, but the whereabouts of three other leaders on the ULFA list are not known. All three were captured during the military operation by Bhutan against Northeast militant groups operating from its territory. Another top gun, ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia, remains imprisoned in Bangladesh despite completing his term.
The ULFA letter addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached the PMO on July 11, more than a month after the outfit was asked to shun violence and come forward for talks on the lines of the dialogue with the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) and a couple of other militant groups.
The PMO had said in its first letter to the ULFA that all core issues would be on the agenda for negotiations, to which the militant group responded with a clarification. It said there was only one core issue, sovereignty, and that would have to figure in any dialogue.
Ever the optimist, Goswami said peace initiatives take time to show results. She cited the ongoing Naga peace talks and the parleys between the government and the erstwhile Mizo National Front, which took more than a decade to bear fruit, as reasons to remain hopeful.
Anti-ULFA operation called off
Meanwhile, in a positive development which, according to observers, is likely to raise some ray of hope for talks between Delhi and ULFA, the Army authorities have decided to halt their offensive against ULFA militants in the Lower Dibang Valley and East Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh.
Though the operation did not enjoy much success, the Army and Arunachal Pradesh police said they have destroyed a vital network of the outfit at Paglam-Bijri-Doimukh, the junction of the two hill districts.
An army official said the ULFA had established a network in an area covered with thick jungles and rivers to provide logistical support to militants operating in Upper Assam.
Self-styled ULFA Corporal Ritu Bora was killed in the operation while five others were arrested.
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