[Assam] Dissent in the Ranks?

[Ram Sarangapani]

  This from the Sentinel, today. Of course, given the lack of confidence
that some netters place on the Sentinel (at least sometimes:)), this may
just be some ravings by some over-zealous reporter. Nevertheless, it is
interesting.

The report also casts some doubts on some PCG members as being 'two-timers'.
The term 'two-timers' was, I thought reserved for the male of the species,
in personal relationships. I guess, the Sentinel meant that some members
were 'moles' in American parlance - but then, what wrong with a misplaced
phrase here and there? :)

However, it would be interesting to find out if the Sentinel is right after
all.

--Ram
**
*Minus 'c-in-c', ULFA ready to shed sovereignty tag? *
 By a Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Oct 22: That United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)
'commander-in-chief' Paresh Baruah has been fighting a 'lone battle' for an
'independent Asom', even against the outfit's top hierarchy, came to the
fore when the '28th battalion' of the outfit had announced a ceasefire on
its own without even waiting for the formal nod from its high command and
the outcome of the Centre-People's Consultative Group (PCG) talks that had
been going on at that time. The latest organizational and policy position of
the ULFA is such that majority of its top leaders, including chairman
Arabinda Rajkhowa, have been 'foreseeing' a bleak future of the group's
27-year-old armed struggle for an 'independent Asom.' Realizing well the
futility of the armed struggle, this section of ULFA leaders has softened
its stand on the very objective of the group's armed movement. Today, they
are even ready to accept a Jammu & Kashmir-type status along with
constitutional safeguards to the State, and as such they are ready for peace
talks with the Centre without any preconditions. The uphill task before them
now is making their 'c-in-c' Paresh Baruah realize the futility of their
armed struggle for a 'sovereign Asom,' a thing which they themselves think
an impossible proposition.
All these revelations are from sources who have direct information regarding
the day-to-day developments in the ULFA. According to the sources, these
'liberal' ULFA leaders cannot air comments openly about their soft stand for
peace talks since that will only expose the division among them. They have,
however, been putting constant pressure on their 'c-in-c' to soften his
stand so as to ensure the resumption of the peace process with the Centre
and make it a success, the sources said.
According to the sources, involvement of civilian leaders, who have faith in
democracy, had much to do in a number of ULFA leaders softening their stand
insofar as peace talks with the Centre are concerned. An amazing revelation
that the sources have made is that at least two leaders of the PCG and the
PCPIA are 'two-timers'. "They get information of day-to-day developments in
the ULFA and pass the information to the Centre, and the recent announcement
made by the National Security Council (NSC) that the Centre is ready to
soften two of its three conditions for direct peace talks with the ULFA is
the outcome of the ULFA's inside information fed to the Government by the
two two-timers in the PCG," the sources said.
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