India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Politics » 

North East : Assam : PM visits ULFA-hit state - doors still open for talks

	January 22, 2007

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asserted that his Government will not tolerate violence and is determined to ensure the safety of all citizens in Assam “using all resources at its command.”



The Prime Minister who visited the state on Jan. 16 to extend his moral and material support to the victims of the latest ULFA carnage early this month, however, announced that doors are still open for a dialogue with the militant outfit.



Dr. Singh announced a compensation of Rs. 2 lakh to the next of kin of each of the deceased from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, and one job to each of the families which lost its breadwinner in the ULFA carnage.



“I would like to make it clear that there is no room for violence and it will not be tolerated. I appeal to all sections of society to give up violence as a means to resolve problems. At the same time, I would like to reiterate that the doors for dialogue are open to all disaffected groups - including the ULFA - which are willing to abjure violence,” Dr. Singh told reporters before returning to Delhi after visiting the violence-affected Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts.



Dr. Singh appealed to all sections not to succumb to fear and leave their places of livelihood.



“The Government of India is firm in its resolve to work with the people and the State Government to ensure that terrorist groups do not succeed in their nefarious designs. There will be no compromise with these groups if they resort to violence,” he said.



The Prime Minister, who visited Musaldhari Chapori in Tinsukia and Sepon in Sivasagar district during his day-long visit, told inmates of relief camps that they had nothing to fear. “I will see how best these families can be rehabilitated,” he told the media later.



Dr. Singh said the families of those killed and other Hindi-speaking people could stay in the relief camps for as long as they wished and that the Union and state governments would take care of them.





Negotiations not a sign of weakness



While offering a carrot and stick policy to deal with insurgents in the troubled region, the Prime Minister cautioned the militants when he said : “No one should mistake our openness for talks and dialogue as a sign of weakness. The Indian state has an obligation to provide security and protect the lives of its law-abiding citizens. This we will discharge, let there be no doubt on that. At the same time, India can accommodate a diversity of opinion, and provides scope for meeting a wide range of needs and aspirations and allowing many cultures and identities to exist. I am sure that if we persist with the process of dialogue, a solution can certainly be found in Assam just as it has been found for many other groups and entities.”



Agency reports say the ULFA has also reiterated its willingness to sit for talks with New Delhi if jailed leaders of the outfit are freed.



“ULFA’s top leadership is very much willing to come for negotiations, but the groundwork should be done. This will be only possible if the jailed leaders are released,” an ULFA functionary said.



He claimed that the ULFA had formed a 50-member suicide squad “to avenge the death of their comrades in the ongoing Army operations”.





Reviews security



Earlier, on his arrival in Assam, Dr. Singh reviewed the security measures and counter-insurgency operations at a meeting with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and senior officials of the Army, the Assam police and Central paramilitary forces.



Asked about the steps taken with Bangladesh and Myanmar to flush out rebels operating from there, Dr. Singh said that on Monday, Jan. 15, he talked to his Myanmarese counterpart in the Philippines, who assured him that action would be taken if India provided adequate feedback.



To a question whether the ULFA killings occurred on the instruction of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, he declined to comment.





Kashmir-type strategy in Assam : CM heads Unified Command



In New Delhi, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said the Unified Command for counter-insurgency operations in Assam was now following the “Kashmir pattern” with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi having taken charge of the three-tier structure.



The Unified Command was previously headed by the Chief Secretary and its chief operations executive was the General-Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Army’s Tezpur-headquartered 4 Corps. “Now there is a joint command with the Chief Minister heading it,” Antony said.



Asked if the objective of the military campaign was to destroy the ULFA, the minister said: “I cannot say it in that language. We cannot allow this kind of terrorist group to kill innocent people.”



Antony said the Centre had been misled by intermediaries who argued that the ULFA wanted peace. The government suspended military operations against the outfit from August 13 to September 24 last year despite the army consistently advising it against any such step.



Unlike the Prime Minister, who said New Delhi would still give the ULFA a chance to sit for talks if it gave up the gun, Antony said the government was not considering a dialogue with the group at the moment.



“This time, there is no justification (for talks). After the killings of innocent people, it is our (the Centre’s) considered view that the (ULFA’s) challenge must be met.”





———————Box——————-



ULFA issues fresh threat



The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has issued a fresh threat to Hindi-speaking and other non-Assamese, asking them to stay away from the State during its conflict with the security forces.



The militant outfit in a statement on Thursday, Jan. 18, also claimed responsibility for the recent massacre in upper Assam, in which 62 persons - most of them migrant Bihari workers - were killed.





Ignore it, says CM



Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi who rushed to quell fears of “migrant Indians” about ULFA’s quit-Assam notice called upon the people to “ignore it.”



Although the ULFA addressed the notice to all “Indians who migrated to Assam”, the government believes the militant group was alluding to Hindi-speaking people. “I am assuring the people that the government will provide full security to all, particularly Hindi-speaking citizens...They should not panic,” the Chief Minister said.



Mamoni Raisom Goswami, whose efforts at mediation between the ULFA and New Delhi have almost come to naught, expressed “regret” for the outfit’s xenophobic campaign against Hindi-speaking people. The writer said she was “depressed” by the recent happenings in the state, especially the attacks on people who were very much a part of Assamese society.



—————————Box ends here———————-







ULFA threatens Congress leaders



On the run from the army, the ULFA’s combat wing has taken recourse to threatening Congress leaders with dire consequences to force the government to ease the heat.



A top militant leader has been calling up Congress functionaries to warn of “extreme punishment” if they do not ask the government to call off the offensive. According to media reports, a Congress leader was shot dead by suspected ULFA militants in Tinsukia district on Saturday, Jan. 20. A group of four militants called Bobodar Moran, the Congress gram panchayat secretary of Betini, to a place between Digboi and Pangeri at 9 p.m. and shot him dead.



ULFA commander Jiten Dutta, who leads “Charlie Company” of the militant group’s 28 Battalion, has also telephoned some Congress leaders based in and around Doomdooma to demand the release of an arrested accomplice, Tarun Mahanta. Mahanta was caught by troops from the 6 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles at Bandorkhati Dahotia, under Doomdooma police station of Tinsukia district.



Tinsukia is one of the districts where Hindi-speaking people were targeted earlier this month, leading to “intensification” of army operations. Mahanta has confessed to being involved in the massacre at one place.