[Assam] ULFA no longer a force to be reckoned with, IB tells Centre - Sentinel

[Ram Sarangapani]

Saw this news in the Sentinel today. I know, some people will not want to
believe this news or will simply not believe what the Sentinel says. But,
heck, many of us knew that the ULFA represents only a small number of
ideologues, and die-hard secessionists.

What was surprising that the Center seems to have realized only now that
holding talks only helps in elevating the outfit.
I suspect there are other reasons that the Center does not want to hold
talks directly with the outfit.  For one, the Center knows of how the outfit
back-tracks,
or of not keeping its promises at discussions (remember, a couple of these
militants took off, only to cause more trouble), and of course,
promptly shifting the blame to the Center, if discussions fail.

So, the Center would have the State Govt. deal with it, and basically treat
the ULFA problem as a 'law and order' problem.

Highlights are mine.



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ULFA no longer a force to be reckoned with, IB tells Centre

>From our Correspondent

NEW DELHI, June 6: In so far as peace talks with the United Liberation Front
of Asom (ULFA) and other militant outfits of Assam are concerned, now the
ball is in the State Government’s court. The sudden decision in this regard
was taken based on the report submitted to the Centre by the Intelligence
Bureau (IB) that feels that the ULFA is no longer a force to be reckoned
with. It was based on that IB report, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had
flown to Assam and made an announcement at a press meet along with Assam
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi recently that the State Government would have the
last say in peace talks with the ULFA and other militants outfits in the
State. This was stated by an IB official in a chat with this correspondent.

In its report submitted to the Centre on peace talks with the ULFA and the
law-and-order situation in Assam, the official said, the IB clearly
mentioned in its report that unlike the NSCN-IM in Nagaland, the ULFA was
not the “sole representative” of the people of Assam, and hence the Centre
directly holding peace talks with ULFA would be simply giving the outfit
more importance that it deserved. “*The peace talks that have been initiated
with the NDFB (pro-talk), UPDS and the DHD will have to be confined with the
State Government in the days ahead, and the Centre will only depute
interlocutors from its side, for the sake of formality,*” the official said.
In Assam, various ethnic groups have their own demands, and as such, the
ULFA can’t represent the entire population of Assam. I*n such a situation,
the Centre shouldn’t give much importance to the ULFA.* This apart, the
outfit is yet to send a formal proposal to the government expressing its
willingness for peace talks.”

The sources further said that at the recently held SAARC summit in Bhutan,
the Bangladesh Government had assured India of handing it over Anup Chetia.
The sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs, however, prefer to keep mum on
ULFA ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Baruah