Mrinal Hazarika (centre), former commander of Ulfa’s 28 battalion, heads for the AJYCP office in Guwahati on Sunday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Dibrugarh, July 6: Surrendered Ulfa militants of Upper Assam today emerged from the shadows to voice their support for the peace initiative taken by the two crack units of the outfit, urging both the government and the Ulfa leadership to shed all pre-conditions for talks.

Nearly 150 former militants of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia gathered at Sahitya Sabha Bhawan in Chabua this afternoon and urged the Centre, the Assam government and the Ulfa leadership to “look beyond their respective rigid stands and simply come forward for direct talks”.

Led by Anirban Gohain, the president of the Asom Unnayan Aru Samanay Mancha — a newly floated platform of the former Ulfa rebels — the meeting discussed ways to keep the peace ball rolling.

“We welcome the peace initiative by the two companies of the outfit’s 28 battalion. We are prepared to provide whatever support is required to ensure that the process moves forward. Almost all of us who were present during today’s meeting opined that there should be direct talks between the government and Ulfa without any kind of pre-conditions,” Gohain said at a press conference after the meeting.

The Alpha and Charlie companies of outfit’s largest and most potent battalion offered ceasefire on June 24 and formally moved Dispur on truce five days later.

After today’s meeting, Gohain said they were concerned about the pre-conditions set by chief minister Tarun Gogoi during a news conference in Guwahati recently.

Gogoi had said the Ulfa cadres would have to deposit their arms and ammunition before ceasefire talks. Second, the cadres would have to live in designated camps. Third, they should not collect money or try to recruit fresh cadres or regroup and fourth, the talks would have to be within the framework of the Constitution.

The former commander of the 28 battalion, Mrinal Hazarika, had rejected the government’s condition of depositing weapons as well as that on talks being held within the framework of the Constitution.

“This rigid and arrogant attitude of the chief minister who is also heading the Unified Command structure will only dampen the spirit of the fresh peace initiative. Therefore, we appeal to the government not to issue such statements, which might prove detrimental for the process. Likewise, the central Ulfa leadership should also scale down from its rigid stand on sovereignty and other issues. Both sides will have to be lenient. After all, nobody wants to see more bloodshed in the state,” Gohain said.

Pranjal Saikia, Manjit Gohain, Surjya Gohain, Kundil Gohain, Tez Bora, Lakhi Saikia and Manikanta Buragohain were among the prominent former Ulfa leaders who attended today’s meeting, which was guarded by a team of police and CRPF personnel.

The surrendered rebels also demanded early release of all important jailed leaders of the outfit so that there could be direct discussions within the Ulfa leadership.

Ulfa has long been pushing for the release of its publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary, vice-president Pradip Gogoi, adviser Bhimkanta Buragohain, cultural secretary Pranati Deka as a pre-condition for talks.

Another meeting, organised by the Nirjatan Biruddhi Oikya Mancha at Saikhowa Open Stage and attended by hundreds of villagers, called on “both sides” to begin talks without further delay.

People carrying banners and shouting slogans in support of Ulfa, sought permanent peace in the state, release of the jailed leaders and suspension of all operations by the security forces.

“We are happy with the response from the people on the issue. We will be organising more such meetings very soon,” Arun Chetia, the vice-president of the organisation, said.

A surprise caller to media houses, however, tried to put a spanner in the peace process.

A man identifying himself as Jibon Moran, a senior member of the Ulfa’s central committee, today rang up mediapersons from an undisclosed location to criticise the peace initiative taken by a section of leaders of the 28 battalion and warned individuals and groups against being party to it.

The warning comes ahead of a public meeting convened by the Nirjatan Biruddhi Oikya Mancha at Kakopathar on Tuesday.