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ULFA serving Bangla interests, says Gogoi

ULFA serving Bangla interests, says Gogoi

Author: R Dutta Choudhury
Publication: Assam Tribune
Date: March 19, 2008
URL: http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar1908/at01

With continuous acts of violence and killings of innocent people, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) proved that it is not serious in solving the problems through talks, said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. He also said that the Government would not take any chances on the threat posed by fundamentalist elements based in Bangladesh.

Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, the Chief Minister hit out against the ULFA and said that no other militant organisation killed so many innocent civilians. "We fail to understand what the ULFA aims to achieve by planting bombs in crowded places, killing innocent civilians. The blasts in public places and the recent blast during a festival at Jonai in Dhemaji district was one of the most heinous crimes," he added. Referring to the ULFA's denial of its involvement in the blast in Jonai, Gogoi said that the militant outfit always has the habit of denying its involvement in blasts after public resentment. He further said that the opposition parties failed to strongly condemn the ULFA for the blasts in public places.

Gogoi pointed out that when the ULFA formed the People's Consultative Group (PCG) to hold initial parleys with the Government of India, the State Government extended full cooperation to the PCG in the interest of bringing the militant, for talks and even suspended operations against the ULFA unilaterally. He alleged that the ULFA was serving the interests of Bangladesh rather than that of Assam and that is why the top leaders of the militant outfit were given shelter in the neighbouring country.

The Chief Minister asserted that the Government is keen on solving the problem of militancy through dialogues, but the ULFA, with its acts of violence proved that it was not sincere on solving the problems through political negotiations. He said that the Government was of the view that the talks should be held without any pre-condition and the top leaders of the ULFA must come forward to the negotiation table. But the ULFA was insisting on pre-conditions knowing full well that the Government would not be able to accept the same, he alleged.

Commenting on the allegation that the police and security forces failed to protect the life and property of the people, the Chief Minister said that the vigilance by the security forces improved considerably. He pointed out that in recent times, a large number of bombs were recovered and a good number of cadres of the militant groups were apprehended. Or else the level of violence would have been much more, he added.

On the threat posed to the security of the State by fundamentalist elements, Gogoi said that though such elements have not yet indulged in any large-scale violence in Assam, the Government was not willing to take any chance. He pointed out that Assam has long international border with Bangladesh where the fundamentalist forces have their bases and threat posed by such elements to Assam cannot be ignored.

Replying to a question on the slow progress of the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), Gogoi expressed doubts on the sincerity of the outfit in solving the problems through talks. He pointed out that even after two years of signing of the cease-fire agreement, the NDFB failed to submit the charter of demands to start the political dialogues, while, the members of the outfit also violated the ground rules of the agreement and refused to go to the designated camps. "The Government has not yet withdrawn the cease-fire agreement only because we are sincere in solving the problems through talks," he added. He also termed the allegations that the Congress-led Government was not taking steps to expedite the process of talks with the NDFB because of pressure from alliance partner BPF as baseless and pointed out that the cease-fire agreement with the outfit was signed during the tenure of the present Government. He also admitted that not much progress has been achieved in the process of talks with the United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) and the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD).


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