ULFA’s long and winding road to peace

The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear

— The Beatles

THIS legendary song sits well with the long and convoluted journey to peace in Assam as far as the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) is concerned. It has taken a major step forward with the signing of a peace agreement between the Central and state governments on one side and a faction of the 44-year-old organisation, which once sought independence, on the other.

A key issue that remains is Baruah’s own future role as the head of ULFA (Independent). Without him, the circle remains incomplete.

The negotiations were complex and took as many as 12 years from the time ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa was released from jail. After resolving key issues in detailed talks with two emissaries of the government, the accord was signed with the Central and Assam governments in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The pro-talks faction of the ULFA abandoned its essential aims. Not only did it agree to disband its army, but it also renounced violence, disarmed and committed to ‘participate in the peaceful democratic process established by the law’, which is diplomatic language for engaging in the political (read electoral) process, and upholding India’s integrity. Other concessions included an investment of

Rs 1.5 lakh crore for the all-round development of Assam, addressing not only ULFA’s original concerns but also encompassing issues beyond its initial charter. These involved the amicable settlement of boundary disputes with neighbouring states, maximum representation for ‘indigenous communities’ in the state legislature and preparation of an ‘error-free’ National Register of Citizens, which in 2019 had excluded 19.06 lakh people. The narrative of marginalising the largest minority (Muslims comprise about 35 per cent of the state’s population) continued.

Referring to the revival of the foreigners’ issue, ULFA (Independent) chief Paresh Baruah said: “There’s never a solution, but the social harmony is disturbed.” Security analyst Jaideep Saikia described the agreement as an effort to provide an honourable exit for those who had founded ULFA (barring Baruah, whose group has refused to negotiate) and said the “the charter of demands was tailor-made to suit the long-held grievances of many in Assam.” A key issue that remains is Baruah’s own future role as the last holdout and head of ULFA (Independent). Without him, the circle remains incomplete. Unlike in the past, Baruah, though dismissive, showed signs of mellowness after the Rajkhowa faction signed the deal, saying that he bore no ill-will and understood why they had done so.

In interviews, he kept referring warmly to Sarma, who played a key role in the negotiations, expressing his belief that the CM could reach out to him over time. Sarma promised safe passage to Baruah — even with a diminished flock, he remains a charismatic figure in Assam — urging him to come and see the change in his home state.

Thus, while the government is not in a hurry to initiate negotiations with Baruah and may wait until the General Election, there are several potential ways of addressing the issue of ‘sovereignty’ that Baruah has long insisted upon. One approach is the shared sovereignty model, as employed in negotiations with the Nagas; another is that the issue can be acknowledged or spoken of with the tacit understanding of both sides but not actively ‘discussed’.

After all, conditions have changed since Baruah left Assam. There has been a transformation in its infrastructure in multiple sectors, peace is in place and the dreaded Armed Forces Special Powers Act has been removed from virtually the entire state, showing the assertive confidence of the Centre and the state government.

The era when ULFA held sway, spanning nearly two decades from the late 1980s until about 2005, has come to an end. It had then captured the imagination of the youth with its call for separation, recruiting hundreds into its army and establishing an international network with significant finances spanning across South Asia, Myanmar and China. “Some of them were from our village; we were children, but they let us see and handle weapons,” says a scholar now teaching in central Assam.

But over the years, the aura crumbled, as did the organisation. Divisions set in, factionalism grew and sanctuaries vanished. The pressure exerted by the Indian Army with its 1991 operation forced Rajkhowa to the negotiating table, but he slipped away under the guise of persuading the more radical group under Baruah. Ambushes and attacks by ULFA continued as it remained a banned organisation. However, a series of events in neighbouring Bhutan and Bangladesh defanged the organisation, and it began to unravel.

In 2003, Bhutan unleashed a blitzkrieg on over 30 camps of ULFA, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland and the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation after the rebels refused to heed several stern warnings to quit Bhutanese territory. Hundreds were captured and killed, and many fled across the border into the waiting arms of the Indian Army. Rajkhowa and his close aides escaped the dragnet as they were elsewhere.

Seeking to recover from that blow, Baruah authorised conversations with a People’s Consultative Group, comprising largely pro-ULFA figures, headed by Jnanpith awardee Indira Raisom Goswami. The talks raised hopes, which eventually faded away. Next to follow was a series of crackdowns in 2009 in Bangladesh by a new government under the pro-India Awami League of Sheikh Hasina. Earlier, Bangladesh was a haven for militants under the pro-Pakistan Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Khaleda Zia. Rajkhowa and his key aides were detained and handed over to Indian security forces at the border. Baruah, always a step ahead of his pursuers, was far away at the borders of Myanmar and China.

However, the greatest damage was done by the fatigue that had set in and the consequent loss of support among ordinary people, who were once ULFA’s greatest strength and ally, especially in rural Assam. It was the rural communities which felt the bruising impact of repeated government crackdowns, encounters, intrusions and investigations. Besides, the once-romantic aura that surrounded the group began to crack with revelations of human rights abuses, including accounts of torture of those opposed to them and those suspected of being government informers. There were extensive reports of fund extortion and unaccounted caches of money. The support may not have disappeared, but it has significantly diminished.

As the song goes, it is time to close the circle and end the cycle of violence.

You left me standing here
A long, long time ago
Don’t keep me waiting there
Lead me to your door