GUWAHATI, Dec 30: With the cease-fire with the dreaded National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) having brought the insurgency situation in Nagaland to a controllable point and creating a conducive atmosphere for beginning a series of dialogues between the Government and the rebel leaders, the authorities in Assam are also looking for a similar cease-fire.Though no proposal for a formal cease-fire has been mooted by the Government, efforts are on to pass on the idea to the ULFA, highly-placed sources here said.Similar indications have also been given by General V P Malik, Chief of Staff of the Indian army, during his recent visit to the region, though he has pointed out that such a possibility was not immediately in the offing.``A cease-fire was declared against the NSCN in Nagaland only after the Government received confirmed responses from their leaders. Such an environment is yet to be seen in the case of Assam and the ULFA,'' General Malik said here last week.When asked to comment on theissue, Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has said that while various social groups played a pivotal role in bringing about a cease-fire in Nagaland, the same has not been happening in Assam.It may be recalled that the Assam Government had in 1997 authorised the Assam Sahitya Sabha, the largest and the most respected literary body of the State, to broker peace with the ULFA leaders. But the body failed.In fact, this angered Mahanta to such an extent that he publicly commented about the issue while inaugurating the Guwahati Book Fair, last week. While the Government was looking for the Ahitya Sabha playing a major role in bringing back peace to the State, it has not just failed, but has even succumbed to pressure from the ULFA, the Chief Minister complained.Contrary to this, Mahanta said, social groups like the students' organisation, the church and the Naga Ho Ho, were able to convince the NSCN leaders to accept a cease-fire.Mahanta regretted that though he expected the All-AssamStudents' Union (AASU) to play a role similar to their counterparts in Nagaland, `` that too has not happened''.The Assam Government is also understood to have asked some leaders of the vaishnavite satra (monasteries), being another powerful organisation in the State, to make a similar appeal to ULFA leaders.But that effort also failed to produce positive results, with sources saying that the ULFA leadership asked the satra leaders in return, not to step into the tussle between the Government and the rebels.The Government, however, is still hoping that the ULFA leadership would come out for talks and also agree to a ceasefire, especially after the Khaplang faction of the NSCN agreed to do so in Nagaland.This is because the ULFA shares a common platform with the NSCN(K) in an umbrella organisation called the Indo-Burma Revolutionary Front (IBRF), and occasionally, this group declares joint programmes to carry on their struggle.``We are pinning a lot of hopes on the cease-fire andon-going talks with the NSCN,'' Mahanta said. Meanwhile, there has been news that the political wing of the ULFA has expressed willingness to talk. But, Mahanta refused to either confirm or deny reports that the Government has received feelers from the ULFA's political wing. ``But it remains a fact that the Government does not want to talk to one wing and leave out the other, especially the armed wing led by Paresh Barua,'' the Chief Minister added.
