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Journalism of Courage
GUWAHATI, JAN 15: ULFA armed wing chief Paresh Barua has claimed that though the group had shown “enough sincerity” in wanting bringing the Assam problem to an end, New Delhi was not interested in holding talks since it had put forward the pre-condition that ULFA first give up the path of violence.
In an interview to an Assamese-languate newspaper, Barua said: “We were interested in solving the issue through talks. But the Government’s rejection of our offer has proved that New Delhi is not interested.”
ULFA had recently conveyed to the Government that it had dropped two of its original three conditions and was ready to sit down and discuss the issue of sovereignty. This they did by directly communicating its message to the PMO last month. In the past, ULFA had maintained that the only situation in which it would hold talks was if the Government was ready to discuss the issue of sovereignity, that these talks be held in a foreign country and in the presence of a UN observer.
Recently, however, the group had changed its stand and dropped two of the preconditions and wanted to discuss only the issue of sovereignity. Barua said that any discussion should have a definite agenda, but added that the Government seemed to have no agenda at all.
“While we expressed our willingness to talk with just one condition, the Government has once again put the pre-condition of shunning violence. We have nothing to further to say now that the offer that we sent has been turned down,” Barua was quoted as saying.
He accused New Delhi of not wanting to solve the issue through negotiations, leaving ULFA with no alternative but to stick to its violent means. “ULFA had never said it is not interested in solving the issue through discussions. We have shown our sincerity. But the same now seems to be lacking on the Government’s part,” Barua said.
Meanwhile, former national football player Rebati Phukan has claimed that he was willing to act as a mediator between the ULFA and the government to initiate a process of discussion. Phukan, who hails from the same village as Paresh Barua and ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia (lodged in a Dhaka jail since December 1997) told this in an interview to a website called assamlive.com. He also said that he had already contacted the state government but had received no response in this regard.
Phukan had played a similar role in 1991 when a group of top ULFA leaders, including Anup Chetia, had met then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and held one round of discussions.
However, Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has said that he had no knowledge whatsoever about the former football player being in touch with the state government.
