[Assam] The ULFA is the solution not the problem. India is THE problem keeping the Assamese captive after pocketing Assam in 1947. Fulfil your solution hope by restoring the sovereignty of Assam, India.

[Bartta Bistar]

HOPE AGAIN
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061228/asp/opinion/story_7190753.asp


Messages of hope and promises of peace should be welcome, even from those
who wield the gun. The New Year message of Mr Arabinda Rajkhowa, chairman of
the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom, can, therefore, bring some
relief to the people of Assam. They would consider 2007 an exceptionally
happy year if it saw, as Mr Rajkhowa hoped, a "political settlement" of the
insurgency. The problem is that the Ulfa had raised hopes of a settlement on
other occasions too before dashing them. There were similar hopes when the
army declared a "temporary ceasefire" in Assam earlier this year in order to
facilitate peace-talks with the Ulfa-appointed "people's consultative
committee". Not only were those hopes belied, mainly because of the Ulfa's
refusal to directly join the talk, but the militants also drowned Assam in
despair by stepping up their violence in the past three months. Mr
Rajkhowa's complaint that the talks were "sabotaged" suggests that he still
refuses to admit to his own organization's responsibility for the failure of
the peace initiative. It is time the Ulfa joined the talks directly with the
Centre. More important, it must stop using violence as a bargaining tool.

However, Mr Rajkhowa's complaint about the National Socialist Council of
Nagalim, headed by Mr Isaak Chishi Swu and Mr Thuingaleng Muivah, is a fresh
cause for concern. The boundary dispute between Assam and Nagaland is old,
but this is the first time that the Ulfa has openly accused the Naga group
of encroaching on Assamese territory. Given the history of clashes between
the two communities on the Assam-Nagaland border, Mr Rajkhowa's provocation
is unwarranted. He should have urged politicians and others in Assam to
represent the state's case to the panel appointed by the Supreme Court to
"identify" the boundaries of Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The last
thing that Assam wants is ethnic skirmishes with its neighbours.
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