Peace tune in Assam

It seems that all hurdles have been removed to pave way for a dialogue between the Centre and outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

The PMO has already sent a communique by National Security Advisor K Narayanan in reply to ULFA chairman Aurobindo Rajkhowa's letter asking the PMO to include the matter of Sovereignty in the discussions.The Centre had reportedly softened its earlier stand and conceded ground to the ULFA, according to sources.

While political parties welcomed the development, the people of Assam awaited the ULFA's response in earnest.'This is the best chance and I am confident that 'the boys' will respond positively,'' said the Jnanpith Award winning writer Dr Indira Goswami, who was pushing hard for the peace talks.''The core concerns raised by ULFA would be addressed by the Union government,'' she said.

As per the request of the underground organization, Assam Government may release top ULFA leaders who are in custody to facilitate talks between the militant group and the Centre.Earlier the militant organisation has said that they cannot take decision on the Centre's offer for talks without discussions with ten of their 16 top leaders who are currently in custody. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said, if a formal communication came from the Centre, the state government ''would not have any problem considering the request for the release of the captive leaders''. Barring general secretary Anup Chetia, who was still in custody of the Bangladesh government, all other ULFA leaders were in various jails of Assam. At least two of them were likely to get bail in natural course.

The Chief Minister's stand rekindled hopes of talks between the ULFA and the Centre, which had invited the militant organisation a fortnight ago to discuss core issues. The ULFA is a major militant organisation in the North East, excluding those of Manipur, which were outside the ceasefire loop.The radical National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDBF) joined the
ceasefire recently.

Meanwhile, jailed ULFA vice-chairman Pradeep Gogoi said without the presence of the ten jailed leaders, there would no quorum in the organisation's decision making body, nullifying chances of a verdict on the talks from them. However, the ball was in ULFA's court as both the state and the Centre were awaiting a formal reply from them. The ULFA have been
making statements only through newspapers.On the other hand it is reliably leatrt that ULFA runs seven hotels of international standards in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet in Bangladesh and operates three bank accounts in that country.
Three hotels are located in Dhaka - Surma International on the Taj Mahal road, Hotel Mohammadia in Mirpur and Padma International in Banani.

The hotels are managed by Subal Barua alias Ahmed, Satish Sharma alias Kamal and Ashish Deka alias Hossain, he said.
In Sylhet, the militant group has two hotels -- Keya International in Zinda Bazar area managed by Dulal Roy alias Saidul and Yamuna on University road managed by Anil Dey alias Sohal, he said. Two more hotels -- Hotel Basundhara managed by Subhash Deka alias Humayun and Raj King managed by Kanailal Barman alias Rubel - are located in Chittagong's Halishahar and Pahartali areas, Srivastava said.The three bank accounts ULFA operates in Bangladesh have been traced to Arab Bangladesh Bank's Farm Gate branch in Dhaka and Zinda Bazar branch in Sylhet and Al-Barakah Bank's Pahartali branch in Chittagong.

In another related development quite strangelyeven after being blacklisted by US,  ULFA has sought the intervention of the world's only superpower to pressurise India for a political solution of their problem.
In a statement, which has baffled the ULFA watchers, outfit chairman Aurobindo Rajkhowa sought US president Gorge W Bush's intervention in the matter.

Citing a long history of how Assam was annexed by the British, the ULFA chairman urged the US president to apply pressure on India for a political settlement of the whole situation.What has shocked the ULFA watchers as well as the police community
is that the outfit has sought intervention within a fortnight of being branded as a terrorist organisation. It has come at a time when both the ULFA and the Centre have shown willingness for a possible negotiation.The principal opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) favoured the release of ten jailed ULFA leaders by the Centre to facilitate the proposed talks with the banned militant outfit.

AGP general secretary Dilip Saikia said the demand of the ULFA Commander-in-Chief Paresh Barua for the release of ten jailed leaders should be considered seriously for the greater interest of the state. Mr Saikia also urged Mr Barua and ULFA chairman Arvind Rajkhowa to respond positively to the letter sent by the PMO through Jnanpith award winner author Indira Goswami for talks recently. This was the second letter sent by the PMO, a modified version, after the ULFA rejected the first letter as it did not include some of its core issues, including sovereignty.

Meanwhile, state chief minister Tarun Gogoi already stated that the issue of the release of the jailed ULFA leaders would not create any obstacle to the proposed talks and he could act on the same once the Centre wanted him to do so. Mr Gogoi was optimistic about solving the insurgency problem in the state before completion of the present tenure of his office. "We have already signed a ceasefire with NDFB and hope to resolve the ULFA problem too in the near future," he added.

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