M A I N   N E W S

ULFA ready for talks

Guwahati, December 27
The banned ULFA, under mounting attack by the Royal Bhutan Army, has expressed its willingness for holding peace talks with the Central Government through a neutral mediator.

In a statement that appeared in a local daily today, ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah said his outfit was ready for peace negotiations with New Delhi on its main demand of sovereignty with a “neutral third party mediator” acting as a facilitator.

Meanwhile, the ULFA, NDFB and KLO, have banned trading and business by any individual or industrial house from Assam, “Bodoland” and “Kamtapur” with any Bhutanese individual or corporate house from midnight yesterday until the end of what they called India’s “proxy war”.

Meanwhile, a report said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had clarified that his general amnesty offer would not cover those who had been captured.

In a related development, a group of ULFA and NDFB cadres was today handed over by the Bhutan authorities to the civil administration here and in Borbori of Nalbari district of Assam.

Nalbari Deputy Commissioner K.C. Samoria said although he did not know the exact number of ultras, they would be handed over to the nearest police station.

He denied reports that the condition of the Tamulpur Civil Hospital where the 64 family members of the ULFA militants were being sheltered was unhygienic.

The police here said there were indications that the ULFA and the NDFB might step up attacks inside the state following their defeat in Bhutan jungles.

Security agencies have been put on maximum alert and security reviews are being carried out for possible targets. — PTI, UNI