Mamoni: Misplaced faith?

Guwahati, Nov. 15: Another acerbic anti-Delhi statement and a couple of somewhat contradictory demands from Ulfa today added to the scepticism over the process of negotiation that mediators Mamoni Raisom Goswami and Rebati Phukan resumed two days ago.

The militant group’s official bulletin, Swadhinata (Freedom), accused Delhi of making a “fraudulent” attempt to show that it is interested in reviving the peace process. It said the government invited the two mediators for resumption of talks only to ensure that Republic Day passed off peacefully.

Militant groups of the region are known to go on a subversion spree in the run-up to Republic Day and Independence Day.

Ulfa asked Delhi to send a formal proposal for talks through the People’s Consultative Group, which voluntarily backed out of negotiations only recently, if it wanted the process to be successful. The outfit also demanded a commitment from the government to make “restoration of sovereignty of Asom” the core issue on the talks agenda.

The statement claimed that the Ulfa leadership would make efforts for political resolution of the conflict.

On Monday, national security adviser M.K. Narayanan told Goswami and Phukan that Ulfa would have to set a timeframe for “direct talks” with the government and call a halt to its acts of violence across Assam.

However, Ulfa continued to maintain that the twin blasts that killed 15 in Guwahati on November 5 were the handiwork of government agencies. The outfit said the explosions were meant to justify the extension of the ban on it. The ban was extended last week.

Ulfa also issued a stern warning to the police not to perpetrate “atrocities on innocent people” in the name of counter-insurgency operations. It said Ulfa members had hitherto been soft towards the police. “We are compelled to issue a stern warning to Assam police and its collaborators that Ulfa will not remain a mute spectator to their heinous acts against the common people of Assam.”

The militant group also demanded steps to protect the rights of non-Bodo people in the Bodoland Territorial Council-administered areas, a statement that is likely to further antagonise former members of the disbanded Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT).

Without naming the BLT, Ulfa referred to allegations about “a certain section” of the people extorting money from “non-Bodo indigenous people” residing in the Bodoland areas.