File picture of Ulfa rebel Mrinal Hazarika in Siliguri

Guwahati, May 29: The Ulfa-constituted People?s Consultative Group has convened a meeting tomorrow to discuss the ?impact? of the recent arrests in North Bengal on the peace process, implying that the next round of talks with Delhi will be anything but a smooth exercise.

Doubts over the peace process cropped up a day after chief minister Tarun Gogoi declared that his government would be ?proactive? in the campaign to end 25 years of insurgency in Assam.

The PCG is expected to brief writer Mamoni Raisom Goswami, the chief facilitator of the peace process, about its stand after a review of the situation.

Lachit Bordoloi, one of those handpicked by Ulfa to hold preliminary discussions with Delhi, said the peace process would surely go off-track if militant leaders were arrested during this crucial period.

As many as six Ulfa leaders, including the outfit?s 28 Battalion ?commandant? Mrinal Hazarika, were arrested in Siliguri recently. An unconfirmed report said the outfit?s finance secretary, Chitraban Hazarika, was also in Bengal police?s custody.

?Such arrests are detrimental to the process of building a congenial atmosphere for peace,? Bordoloi said.

Dilip Patgiri, another PCG member, said the meeting slated for tomorrow would review the status of the proposal for the release of top Ulfa leaders from various jails in the state. The state government has recently recommended it to Delhi.

Patgiri described army operations in the state as ?another spanner? in the peace process. He said the PCG would discuss the issue.

Raisom Goswami, who is based in New Delhi, confirmed that PCG member Rebati Phukan would brief her on the outcome of the meeting and she would convey it to Delhi while finalising the date for the next round of talks. The celebrated writer has been maintaining that the next round of the talks is ?crucial? and that its outcome would determine how soon the Ulfa would hold a ?direct dialogue? with Delhi.

The PCG?s concern over the arrests in North Bengal may have already raised doubts about which way the peace process is going, but security agencies maintain that Hazarika was a ?big catch?. The unit he heads is believed to be Ulfa?s main weapon for subversion, particularly in upper Assam.

?Ulfa?s activities have been contained in other parts of the state, but the 28 Battalion had been causing some problems. Hazarika?s arrest will check the outfit?s activities in the area,? a senior official said.

He also argued that there was no reason for anybody to complain about the arrests as Hazarika and his associates were apprehended in another state. ?They should not have been there in the first place.?

The police believe Ulfa is extending its activities in North Bengal, which is well-connected to Nepal, because of heightened security in Assam. Intelligence reports corroborate the assumption that the militant group has shifted its arms-supply network from Bangladesh to Nepal.

Hazarika had been in Nepal for about one-and-a-half months to finalise an arms deal with the Maoists shortly before his arrest.