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North East : Assam peace talks : Track II diplomacy at work

	October 23, 2006

After a complete shutdown early this month, New Delhi has again indicated that it still prefers Track-II diplomacy to find an amicable solution to demands raised by Assam’s militant outfit and its chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa last week issued a statement to explain why the ULFA had not yet conveyed its consent for talks in writing.



Rajkhowa also refuted Union Minister of State Sri Prakash Jaiswal’s statement that the ULFA had not shown any sincerity in taking the peace process forward.



The ULFA leader said his organisation’s sincerity was reflected in the constitution of the People’s Consultative Group (PCG)and its acceptance of negotiations between the panel and New Delhi. He also refuted the Minister’s contention that the ULFA had utilised the period of cessation of unlawful activities.



New Delhi’s Track-II initiative, modelled on the strategy adopted for talks with the NSCN (Isak-Muivah), is expected to gain momentum once writer-mediator Mamoni Raisom Goswami returns to the capital. She recently visited Germany for the Frankfurt Book Fair and is in Mumbai at present.



A source said attempts would be made to establish direct contact with the ULFA leadership through Goswami and Rebati Phukan, a childhood friend of ULFA ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Barua.



Reports say News Delhi is convinced that the peace process will lead to nowhere until it is able to establish direct contact with the outfit. The government is also trying to maintain a certain degree of secrecy about the progress of the peace process.



In the NSCN (IM) case, the meeting between former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and the Naga militant leadership in Paris was a well-guarded secret till the announcement of a ceasefire and the commencement of formal negotiations.



“It is always advisable that such a sensitive issue be discussed away from public glare. If every point discussed behind closed doors gets published in the newspapers, it creates complications in conflict resolution,” said a source in New Delhi.



New Delhi is, however, unlikely to fall back on the ULFA-constituted People’s Consultative Group to bring the militant group to the negotiating table. It is of the opinion that the strategy of getting the ULFA into direct talks through the PCG was a wrong one. The group did not have the outfit’s mandate to work out the broad outline for a dialogue, said the source said.



On the resumption of Army operations in Assam, the source said New Delhi did not see it as an obstacle in the path of the peace process, which means the Army will continue its job against insurgent activities even as the ULFA is engaged in the peace parleys.





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Probe into torture of ULFA suspect in Army custody



The Indian Army, engaged in anti-insurgency operations in Assam, is once again mired in a row over torture in custody of a separatist suspect, forcing authorities to apologise and order a court of inquiry.



Hundreds of people on Oct 13 blocked a highway for hours near Khowang in Dibrugarh district, protesting against alleged third-degree torture meted out to a farmer, Nipul Saikia, after he was picked up by soldiers from his house five days ago.



“I think Saikia was not treated properly and so we have ordered a court of inquiry. I would like to assure you that the guilty would be punished,” said Major Gen N.C. Marwah, General-Officer-Commanding (GOC) of the 2nd Mountain Division.



Saikia was picked up from his home on Oct. 9 on suspicion of being a linkman of the ULFA and was kept in their custody until Friday before he was admitted to the Dibrugarh Medical College with serious injuries.



“Saikia was brought to hospital with rectal bleeding and his condition was serious. The injuries were suffered probably due to electric shocks,” a doctor attending on him said, requesting not to be named.



The GOC visited Saikia at the hospital and tendered his personal apologies to him for the incident.



There were similar protests in the eastern Tinsukia district where people in their hundreds took to the streets and blocked highways to protest the detention of about 20 villagers, including women and children.



The villagers were picked up by the Army earlier in the week after an explosion triggered by the ULFA injured a soldier in the area. The Army authorities released 10 women and children after the protests.



The Army is engaged in a massive military operation in eastern Assam against the ULFA after New Delhi last month called off a six-week ceasefire blaming the outfit of stepping up attacks.



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Now, PCG wants letter from Dispur



In a related development, the ULFA-constituted People’s Consultative Group on Oct. 15 sought consent of the State Government in writing on revival of the frozen peace process with the militant group. The pressure group said Dispur could do better than to rush to the media instead of formulating a strategy to revive the dialogue.



Insisting that the mediators had only pulled out of negotiations with the Centre in protest against resumption of Army operations and not backed out of the peace process, PCG convener Lachit Bordoloi said the government’s offer of free passage to ULFA members or other such steps held little meaning in the absence of a well-defined line of action.



Referring to New Delhi’s and Dispur’s insistence on a formal communique from the outfit stating its willingness to sit for talks, Bordoloi said the powers-that-be should lead by example instead of going public only to create confusion and earn brownie points.



Justifying the need for a formal communique, the PCG member pointed out that the group of mediators had similarly communicated its stand to the National Security Adviser and the Prime Minister before receiving an invitation for talks.



“The government can write to our team leader Mukul Mahanta or any other member about what it proposes to do and we can convey the same to the outfit. After all, everything now has boiled down to faith and if it is a question of having everything in black and white, let the government spell out its plans similarly. We were, are and will remain committed to the peace process,” Bordoloi said.



He also ruled out any possibility of the outfit accepting the safe passage offer. He stressed that the pre-talks core demand of the outfit remains the suspension of Army operations and release of the five jailed leaders.





Blockades for peace



The district of Dibrugarh on Oct. 16 witnessed a series of attempts to block national highways by People’s Committee for Peace Initiatives in Assam (PCPIA) members across the state, demanding restoration of peace in the state.



In Tinsukia, PCPIA leader Birinchi Neog, AASU information secretary Pulak Gohain, Assam Tea Tribes Students Association vice president, Sanjay Kishan, and district committee leaders of the AJYCP were rounded up by the police along with 200 other people at Makum when they were trying to organise a blockade on National Highway 37.



PCPIA convener Birinchi Neog condemned the police action and said the platform will only intensify its agitation for withdrawal of operations and resumption of talks with the ULFA.



In Dibrugarh, around 150 people were rounded up by security forces near Khowang when they were trying to block traffic on the same highway.



In Sivasagar district, the peace activists blocked National Highway 37 at Demo Punanamai (Mao).