[Assam] Subir Bhaumic, as a BBC reporter, why you do not write from the British point of view on the Assam solution? Are you not aware of the erroneous de-colonisation of Assam being responsible for Assam today being under Indian occupation status?

[Bartta Bistar]

*What hopes for peace in Assam? ***

*By Subir Bhaumik *
BBC News, Assam

*Thousands of angry locals have been protesting against the resumption of
military operations in India's north-eastern state of Assam after talks
between the federal government and the leading separatist group in the state
broke down last month. *


<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/south_asia_enl_1161342015/html/1.stm>

The protests look set to intensify *(Photos: Subhamoy Bhattacharjee)*

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The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), formed in 1979 to fight for
Assam's independence, has carried out a series of campaigns including
targeting oil and gas pipelines, transport and telecommunication facilities
and security patrols.

"We Assamese have suffered unrest and trouble for 25 years. We can take it
no more. We want peace at any cost," says schoolteacher Smita Mishra.

When the separatist United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) set up a
committee of prominent Assamese citizens in September last year to start
negotiations with the central government in Delhi, hopes rose high across
the troubled tea-and-oil producing frontier state.

"The separatists were serious about talks and a settlement this time," says
Assamese newspaper editor Ajit Bhuiyan, who was member of the ULFA-nominated
Peoples Consultative Group (PCG). But "Delhi failed to take the chance and
this will cost everybody very dearly".

*'True colours'*

The head of the ULFA's military wing, Paresh Barua, is equally critical of
the government.

"We wanted the negotiations to continue for a final settlement," he told the
BBC by phone from an undisclosed hideout. "But Delhi has shown its true
colours by resuming military operations. So we will fight to the last."



He also laid out his conditions for peace talks to resume: "They must
release five of our top leaders and stop military operations completely."

India's Home Minister Shivraj Patil introduced a ray of hope this week when
he told some MPs on his ministry's parliamentary consultative committee that
the breakdown of talks in Assam was "a temporary setback".

Mr Patil said the talks would resume but the ULFA had to shun violence and
agree to direct negotiations.

Meanwhile, as the Indian army intensified its operations in areas of Upper
and Lower Assam dominated by the ULFA, thousands of Assamese came out on to
the streets.

In Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts the army and police arrested nearly 100
people on suspicion of having links to the ULFA.



*We want peace at any cost*

Smita Mishra
school teacher

"The army must spare innocent people. They cannot kill or harass anybody and
everybody," said Biswajyoti Gohain, a resident of Moran, whose son was
picked up by the troops on suspicion of links with the ULFA.

The People's Committee for Peace Initiatives in Assam (PCIPIA) , an umbrella
group of 27 Assamese human rights and action groups, has played a leading
role in the protests.

Intelligence officials say the PCPIA is full of ULFA sympathisers.

Police have broken up several attempts by PCPIA supporters to block roads.
Many were injured in the baton charges.

"The ULFA has changed tactics. Besides their normal hit-and-run attacks,
they have mobilised the so-called peaceniks for creating pressure on the
government," says retired Major General Gaganjit Singh. He commanded a
division in Assam and worked as deputy-chief of the Defence Intelligence
Agency until recently.

*Electoral factor*

Mr Singh says the ULFA is keeping its options open on going for peace until
it sees the results of elections in neighbouring Bangladesh.

"The present regime in Dhaka does not want to offend and upset India before
parliament elections in that country. So their agencies want the ULFA to
stay quiet and play the peace game," said Mr Singh.



Soldiers salute the coffins of colleagues killed in rebel ambush

But he says if the BNP-Jamait coalition is re-elected in Bangladesh, the
ULFA is likely to return to full-scale violence.

However, if the Awami League, seen as friendly to India, returns to power,
the ULFA will want a way out, he argues.

"The ULFA fears expulsion from its bases in Bangladesh if the Awami League
returns to power in Dhaka. So they are keen to keep the peace option
intact," said Mr Singh.

Serving military officials endorse that view.

A few days before the talks with the ULFA broke down, the army issued a
press statement in Assam alleging that the ULFA was simply using the
negotiations as a breather to regroup and raise fresh funds and recruits on
a large scale.

The ULFA dismisses such talk: "The ULFA takes decisions on the basis of what
happens in Assam, not on the basis of what happens in Bangladesh," said
spokesperson Rubi Bhuiyan.

On Thursday India's National Security Advisor, MK Narayanan pointed the
finger at Bangladesh: "We regard Bangladesh as an area which gives sanctuary
to these [militant leaders]," he said.

Meanwhile the street protests look set to continue.

Many analysts and Assam-watchers blame the federal government for
mishandling the negotiations. But they expect both Delhi and the ULFA to get
back on talking terms soon.

But even then the path to peace is not clear.

"It will naive for Delhi to imagine that they can militarily crush the
ULFA," says Udayon Mishra, a writer on militancy in India's north-east.

"The problem has to be handled politically but at the moment I don't know
how."
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