Ulfa Divided On Talks: Mahanta

Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta yesterday indicated a division between the top leadership and the ranks of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) on the issue of peace talks with the government.

Mahanta, who is in the Capital to take part in the United Front (UF) steering committee meeting, said that while the district-level cadre of the banned outfit wanted to have negotiations with the government following an appeal by Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda during his October visit to the north-east last year, its central leadership opposed the idea. The district level underground members of the outfit want the talks, but not the central leadership, he said during an informal chat with newspersons when asked about the recent statement of ULFAs publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary opposing talks.

 

Mahanta said the unified command of the army and the civil administration, formed to fight the growing activities of insurgent groups in the state, had been able to put pressure on the ultras, leading to an improvement in the situation. This is evident from the fact that very recently two district commanders of ULFA have been killed in encounters, the Mahanta said, adding that the common people had stopped providing shelter to the ultras. A government cannot look away when innocent people get killed or are extorted, he said justifying the formation of the command. Mahanta, however, said that the state needed more Central forces to keep up the vigil, particularly along the border with Bhutan following intelligence reports of the shift of base of the insurgents from Bangladesh to the Himalayan kingdom.

Mahanta appealed to various non-political bodies of the state, such as the influential Asom Sahitya Sabha, the Freedom Fighters Association and the Bodo Sahitya Sabha, to take initiative in bringing the ultras to the negotiating table.

He said that discussions were going on with various factions of the Bodo leadership to find a solution to the vexed Bodoland Autonomous Council issue.

Replying to a query, he said that rehabilitation of the 1.3 lakh refugees now sheltered in various camps in Kokrajhar district following last years Bodo-Adivasi clashes had become a problem in view of Guwahati High Courts ruling against resettling them in reserved forests.

In this connection, Mahanta urged the Centre to intervene in the issue so that the affected people could be rehabilitated immediately.

The Chief Minister, who had led the six-year-long anti-foreigners agitation in the early eighties as the All Assam Students Union (AASU) president, parried a pointed question on the repeal of the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act of 1983, and said that total implementation of the Assam accord would solve all problems.

The Assam accord, says the act, which is effective only in Assam while the rest of the country uses the Foreigners Act of 1946 for detection and deportation of aliens, can be amended if need be.

The accord is yet to be implemented fully, and the Centre has to give top priority to it, he asserted and said that the Indo-Bangladesh border should be protected to stop infiltration.

Referring to the recent support of Bangldeshs main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to the ultras of the north-east, Mahanta said that it was the duty of the external affairs ministry to take up the matter.