Dibrugarh, July 17: Ulfa leaders Mrinal Hazarika and Jiten Dutta today said they aimed at permanent peace in the state without further bloodshed. They were replying to people at a meeting at Dohotiachuk Bihutoli in Tinsukia.

Coming under the scanner for holding talks with some controversial surrendered Ulfa leaders, the pro-talks Ulfa leaders said they never intended to re-start factional clashes.

The leaders faced a volley of questions from the public, which had gathered to discuss how to take forward the peace initiative that had begun with the Alpha and Charlie companies of Ulfa’s 28 battalion declaring a unilateral ceasefire.

A 15-member team, comprising social workers, educationists, lawyers, and journalists, organised the meeting.

The gathering aimed at giving the people a chance to pose their questions directly before the Ulfa leaders. Some questions were related to the duo’s discussions with some controversial Sulfa leaders.

The Sulfa leaders included Mridul Phukon of Sivasagar, who is accused of murdering rights activist and journalist Parag Das, as well as Jugal Kishore Mahanta and Sourav Gogoi of Dibrugarh who were accused of being a part of secret killings, and MLA-turned-Sulfa leader of Upper Assam Jayanta Hazarika alias Kushal Dowari.

“There are more than 15,000 surrendered Ulfa cadres in the state, who had surrendered before various agencies in the past. Therefore, when we are talking about ushering in peace, we will also have to hear what they have to say. Holding informal discussions with some of them does not mean that we will do only what they say,” said Hazarika.

Hazarika also made it clear that while holding discussions, “care” has been taken to avoid any Sulfa leaders who have not been able to go down well with the people even after their surrender and do not have a “good social image”.

Both Hazarika and Dutta appealed to the people not to become suspicious of the initiative and to come forward with any queries whenever and wherever they wish to.

“We have also noticed that a third force had been trying to derail the peace process since its beginning. We have been saying that we will have to hold discussions with everybody and that everybody means the various government agencies and Sulfa leaders, but this does not mean we have become stooges of one particular hand,” Dutta said.

Around 5,000 people had gathered for the meeting, presided over by social worker Sushil Gogoi, a co-ordinator of the platform that organised today’s meeting.

A resolution demanding early resumption of direct talks between the Ulfa leadership and the government was adopted during the meeting.