Silchar: The founder-president of the All Cachar Karimganj Hailakandi Students' Association, Pradip Dutta Roy, on Sunday said he had spoken to pro-talks Ulfa leaders Anup Chetia and Mrinal Hazarika and they told him that they would not come to Barak Valley as stated by Jiten Dutta a few weeks ago.

Dutta had recently given a statement that he would come to Barak Valley to garner support against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

Roy told reporters at a news conference here that he had a telephonic conversation with Chetia and Hazarika on Saturday evening and they told him that they do not support Dutta's statement and it was his personal opinion.

"Chetia and Hazarika said they do not want Barak Valley to be separated from Assam, rather they wish peace and harmony between both Barak and Brahmaputra valleys. They said they are not against Bengalis or the people of Barak Valley," he added.

Roy said they requested him to withdraw the demand for Barak's separation as it would only widen the division between both the valleys and create bitterness among the people. He, however, maintained that the demand for Barak's separation from Assam is on and voices would be raised over the demand.

Roy had recently demanded that Barak Valley be separated from Assam. He said the gap between the people of Barak and Brahmaputra valleys have widened over issues like the National Register of Citizens and the citizenship bill and it would be better if the valley breaks away from Assam. "Separation is the need of the hour for the betterment of Barak Valley," he added.

He said they are waiting for the second draft NRC to be published following which the further course of agitation would be decided over the Barak-separation issue. The second draft NRC is slated to be published on July 30.

Majority of the names of Barak Valley citizens were missing from the first draft NRC, which had been published on the midnight of December 31 last year.

Roy slammed former chief minister Tarun Gogoi for his comment that he does not want Barak to be separated from Assam. "Despite being the chief minister for 15 years, he did nothing for the development of Barak Valley and now he is making remarks on matters related to the valley," he said. Silchar legislator Dilip Kumar Paul said Assam has already been divided into a number of parts with the creation of states like Mizoram and Meghalaya and further division would not be good.

"Assam is a not a place of any specific community, but of diverse communities like Bengali, Dimasa, Bodo, Manipuri and Karbi among others. We all want peace and harmony among ourselves," he said.

Karimganj North legislator Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha also opposed the idea of Barak's separation.