New Delhi, December 15
The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) chief Paresh Baruah does not appear to be “sincere” to hold talks with the Centre or he is under pressure from “external agencies” not to do so despite offer of unconditional talks by the Centre.
“His (Mr Baruah’s) reported insistence that the requirement to give up militancy contradicts the offer for unconditional talks clearly reflected that he is either not sincere to hold negotiations or is under pressure from external agencies, like Pakistan’s ISI, not to involve in peace process,” top Home Ministry sources said here today.
“We are not asking them to surrender their weapons...We are only saying that they should abjure violence, which is not a pre-condition,” sources said.
The ULFA, which had expressed its desire to hold talks with the Centre earlier this month, through its mediator Indira Mamoni Goswami, had rejected a letter from the PMO, on December 9, inviting the group for unconditional talks, saying it will only respond to a letter signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself.
The ULFA, while appreciating the offer, had insisted that the requirement to give up militancy contradicted the offer for “unconditional talks”.
Terming the series of grenade explosions triggered by ULFA in Assam in the last two days as a “mindless act” and an “act of desperation”, the Home Ministry sources said “ever since the Royal Government of Bhutan had launched military operations against ULFA in December, 2003, in their territory and dismantled all of their camps,
frustration had been growing.”
“Their frustration could be gauged from the fact that the series of grenade attacks in the past two days in Assam have been targeted against innocent people,” they said.
While the government stands for dialogue to restore peace and normalcy and to ensure that the misguided youth lead a normal life in a dignified manner, it will not hesitate to deal with ULFA activities with a firm hand, sources said, adding “security forces have already been asked to step up their vigil and operations against ULFA.”
As far as the possibility of pressure from “external agencies” are concerned, sources said the support of Pakistan’s ISI and some agencies in Bangladesh came to the notice well in 1999 itself when the Assam Rifles had arrested some ULFA cadres.
