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North East : Assam : Centre-Bodo militant outfit extend truce

	May 29, 2006

In a significant development which is likely to boost Government’s peace initiatives with militant outfits in the North East, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the Centre on May 27 reached an agreement to extend the ongoing ceasefire by another six months.



“The Memorandum of Suspension of Operations) for another six months has been signed between the government and the NDFB,” a Union Home Ministry official said.



The accord was signed by Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Union Home Ministry S. Rajagopal and NDFB general secretary G. Basumatary in New Delhi after detailed talks between the two sides. Assam Home Commissioner Rajiv Bora and Inspector General of Police (Special Branch) Khagen Sarma participated in the talks to assist the Union Home Ministry officials in the discussions.



The fresh agreement will come into force from June 1.





Talks with ULFA : Dispur may free Mrinal Hazarika



Meanwhile, eager to remove all potential hurdles in the way of a Delhi-ULFA dialogue, the Tarun Gogoi administration has decided to recommend the release of the recently arrested militant leader Mrinal Hazarika as soon as West Bengal hands him over to Assam.



Hazarika, alias Plabon Phukan, is the self-styled “commanding officer” of the militant group’s 28 Battalion and known to be one of the few who have access to ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Barua. North Bengal police arrested him along with three associates in Siliguri on May 17.



The release of any arrested ULFA leader is subject to endorsement by the Union Home Ministry, which Dispur is confident of getting. A source in the Chief Minister’s office said the government was only waiting for the formalities regarding transfer of custody to Assam to be completed.



Sources in Dispur said, the decision to recommend the ULFA leader’s release followed a request to the Home Ministry to free some other jailed functionaries whose participation in the outfit’s proposed “direct talks” with the government is considered necessary. The ULFA-constituted People’s Consultative Group has held two rounds of discussions with Delhi so far.



PCG member Hiranya Saikia said the group had made it clear to Delhi that it would like the participation of all incarcerated central committee members in the peace process. “We want all central committee members in custody to be released so that talks can begin soon. Hazarika is one of them.”



The mediator said the next round of talks between the PCG and Delhi would, in all probability, be held in the first week of next month. The meeting was delayed by the Assembly elections.





Another ULFA catch in net



Meanwhile, Police in Darjeeling, West Bengal, arrested on May 21 another top leader of the outfit, Bijay Kalita, and a linkman, Subrata Paul, from Siliguri. Intelligence sources said Kalita was the north Bengal co-ordinator of the banned organization. Terming him as “another big catch”, Inspector-General of North Bengal Police K.L. Meena said three mobile phones and some documents were seized from him.



Kalita, who has multiple identities - Arindam Saharia, Bijay Tamang and Anubhab Sharma - is a resident of Amolapatti in Dibrugarh. During interrogation, he revealed that he had joined the outfit in April 1994 after undergoing rigorous training in armed combat in the 2nd Naga battalion in Myanmar. After completing his training, Kalita was deployed first at a Naga base and then in Bhutan.



The police have also confirmed the ULFA activists’ Nepal connection. “Kalita said he used to visit Mahesh Gupta (an associate of Hazarika) at a place, located some 115 km from Kakarvita, where Gupta had a shop,” Meena said.



Intelligence sources said the militant outfit had shifted its route for smuggling arms from Bangladesh to Nepal.





Anti-reservation stir : Quota lobby in counter ploy



Anti-reservation movement which has engulfed almost the entire nation, has caused alarm bells in the pro-reservation forces in Assam. The first sign of a conflict between students opposing Delhi’s proposal and those for it was the warning from the pro-reservation brigade that continued protests in two of the three medical colleges of the state had created a “volatile” situation.



Groups in favour of reservation met in Guwahati and Dibrugarh to finalise a counter strategy even as the anti-quota campaign at the Assam Medical College and the Gauhati Medical College gathered momentum. The state has three medical colleges, the third one being in Silchar.



The All Assam OBC Association reportedly decided to launch a movement supporting the move to hike reservation of seats in higher education institutions. Amar Gogoi, the organisation’s general secretary, said it was a shame that a section of medical students from the OBC category were supporting the anti-reservation campaign. He insisted that reservation was “very important for a backward state like Assam”.



The Ahoms, which once ruled Assam, are counted among the OBCs. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi is a member of the 35 lakh-strong Ahom community.



In Dibrugarh, the Tai Ahom National Council, which is the apex organisation of the Tai Ahom community, urged anti-quota protesters not to oppose Delhi’s proposal. Spokesperson Lakhya Konwar warned all organisations involved in the protests that they would be held responsible if the situation turned ugly.



The council consists of five organisations: All Tai Ahom Students Union, Eastern Tai Literary Association, All Tai Ahom Yuva Parishad, All Assam Mohan Deodhai Bailung Sangha and All Assam Thuranung Sangha.



Speakers at the meeting, which was held at the Assam Medical College Staff Club under the chairmanship of historian J.N. Phukan, peddled the usual argument about reservation being imperative to enable the “backward communities” of the region to “march shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the country”.



As pro-reservation groups went about marshalling their forces for the imminent war, more medical students joined the Assam unit of the Youth for Equality. The organisation is a platform for students across the nation to mould public opinion against reservation.





Flames of revolt engulf OIL units



Meanwhile, Government of India’s policy to deny the contract workers the benefit of regular and permanent services under its socalled economic reforms, has caused great resentment in the workers community in the state owned Oil India Ltd. in Assam.



According to reports, the workers set ablaze a fourth effluent-treatment pit and a gas pipeline on May 24 in Dibrugarh, forcing the company to finally invite their leaders for negotiations on wages and service conditions.



The agitation by the contract workers affected work in several oilfields across Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.



A senior official in the Dibrugarh district administration claimed the situation was under control and that both sides had been “instructed” to resolve the issue amicably. “We have also told the OIL management to review and strengthen its internal security system.”