New Delhi, Sept. 25: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today sprung a surprise for the banned Ulfa, enmeshing it in its own doublespeak.

Gogoi promised to provide safe passage to its top brass for holding consultations with jailed leaders of the outfit. In this way, he explained, the outfit will be able to take a decision on writing a letter committing itself to direct peace parleys with the Centre.

The Ulfa top brass had refused to meet the Centre’s precondition of giving in writing its commitment towards direct talks. The outfit had cited that top leaders alone could not take a decision without a quorum of its central executive committee. The outfit wants five of its jailed leaders released for this purpose.

Attempting to break the deadlock, Gogoi said his government would arrange for Paresh Barua and Arabinda Rajkhowa to hold a meeting with the five jailed leaders before they send a missive to Delhi. “We will give them (the top leaders) passage to come and go back and then they can commit,” Gogoi told mediapersons after arriving here from a Congress conclave of chief ministers in Nainital.

But he wondered how the outfit had authorised the People’s Consultative Group (PCG) to hold talks with the Centre in the first place if it did not take decisions without a quorum of executive committee members.

Justifying the Centre’s stand on the issue, Gogoi cited figures to point out that after the PCG talks began with the Centre, more civilians have been killed by the outfit. More security personnel but fewer insurgents have been killed while extortion and recruitment by the outfit have escalated, he pointed out, citing official figures.

Barua and Rajkhowa are believed to be in Bangladesh while five leaders of the outfit are lodged in Guwahati district jail following their arrests under the National Security Act. The Centre has insisted that Barua and Rajkhowa come to the negotiating table, which the army believes could be possible if enough pressure is exerted on the outfit.