[Assam] PM Singh at least has not claimed to posses the Assamese genes! It is the ‘GENES’ and her solid history give Assam the RIGHTS as a NATION and place in the congregation of countries inside the United Nations; ejecting the Romanic ‘PROVANCE ‘ reality.

Fri Aug 18 00:21:43 PDT 2006

*Is it safe to dance with the ULFA?*
Friday August 18 2006 07:25 IST

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE220060817210428&Title=Second+Article&rLink=0

*Samudra Gupta Kashyap*

The suspension of army operations is a major step by the government of India
in Assam. It conveys to the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)
that New Delhi is serious about the business of peaceful negotiations. The
offer comes at a time when the ULFA was targeting both common people as well
as security personnel. It was only on Friday evening that five Assam Police
commandos were killed near Digboi in Upper Assam.

But any optimism must be tempered by lessons from history. This is not the
first time in the 26 years since the ULFA unleashed insurgency in Assam that
a peace offer has been made by withdrawing the army. Hiteswar Saikia did it
once, way back on January 14, 1992 by suspending Operation Rhino after he
managed to take a group of five senior ULFA leaders led by general secretary
Anup Chetia and the then central publicity secretary Siddhartha Phukan to
then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao. But that initiative did not yield the
desired results: while Anup Chetia soon slipped out to Bangladesh, Phukan
led a number of boys to surrender, only to create a new group of hooligans
who are still known as SULFA ('S' stands for 'surrendered').

Much water has flowed down the mighty Brahmaputra, the river Bhupen Hazarika
described as one that flows shamelessly and mutely while the people suffer.
Though there is no official count, over 6,000 people may have lost their
lives in Assam since the emergence of the ULFA in 1979, of whom about 3,000
would be innocent civilians who had nothing to do either with the ULFA's
struggle for a 'sovereign' Assam or the government's carrot-and-stick
policy, which has wasted several valuable years due to political
considerations. The 'secret killings' allegedly carried out, Punjab style,
by targeting family members of top ULFA leaders too failed. They only pushed
dozens of families into disaster and traumatised hundreds of others. Several
hundred young boys, who would have otherwise made wonderful officers in the
Indian Army, have died untimely deaths for the sake of an armed struggle
that has led Assam nowhere.

The economy and industry of Assam have been major casualties of the
conflict, so also the rate of overall development. There was a time when the
massive flight of capital from Assam saw the rapid expansion of Siliguri in
neighbouring North Bengal, while big business houses including Williamson &
Magor and Tata Tea bought peace by meeting demands of the rebels, from
arranging for medical treatment to handing over cash. Assam's per capita
income remains much below the national average, while the overall human
development index limps behind the known backward states like Bihar and
Orissa.

Sunday's suspension of army operations, which is only for about ten days,
has evoked some response from the ULFA. Significantly, the outfit remained
silent on August 14 and 15; this Independence Day was the most peaceful in
Assam in two decades. ULFA's vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi, currently lodged in
Guwahati Central Jail along with 72 members of his outfit, has described the
Centre's move as a welcome gesture and announced that they (the ULFA
leaders) would not betray the people once they were released. Civil society
in Assam has also become bolder than before. Gone are the days when people
would keep indoors and hold their silence on the ULFA. People now organise
protests every time innocent persons are killed. The Dhemaji blast of August
15, 2004 was a turning point; 10 schoolchildren were killed.

The ULFA has been pressing their demand of discussing sovereignty with New
Delhi. While earlier governments had rejected this demand without a second
thought, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his first meeting with the
ULFA-nominated People's Consultative Group (PCG) on October last year said
that he was prepared to discuss any issue across the table. "Why take up
guns when the prime minister is from your own state?'' Singh asked in
November 2004 in Guwahati. The ULFA-nominated PCG too has expressed high
hopes that every issue can be sorted out through talks. But the ball is now
in the ULFA's court.

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