ULFA rejects Assam Govt’s talks offer, renews threat

GUWAHATI, February 26: The ULFA has rejected the Assam Government's fresh offer for talks by calling it irrelevant and once again issued thr...

GUWAHATI, February 26: The ULFA has rejected the Assam Government’s fresh offer for talks by calling it irrelevant and once again issued threats to the ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and its allies.

ULFA central publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary, who issued a statement here last night, said the government’s offer for talks was “useless” unless counter-insurgency operations were stopped.

“The government’s offer for holding negotiations is ridiculous. It has asked us to stop our activities and set a pre-condition, at the same time saying it (the government) was for talks without any precondition,” Daimary said.

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Daimary’s statement comes as a reply to the government’s press release issued on Tuesday, which said the government was looking forward for a declaration of ceasefire from the ULFA’s end.

The government also appealed to the rebel group to set a date “from which they will stop all militant activities” and pave the way for suspension of counter-insurgency operations by the securityforces.

The official expectation was apparently based on the people’s reaction to the ULFA’s boycott call of the elections, when large number of people actually came out to vote defying the militant group’s diktat.

Daimary also issued an warning to the AGP, but without naming it. The group asked the people to severe links with the political party which favoured or initiated armed repression of “the struggling masses” and said it would not be responsible if any citizen got hurt when such political party leaders were attacked.

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The militants had already affected the AGP’s prospects in the on-going election process, by targetting party workers in large numbers, killing several of them in Nagaon, the home district of Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta during the campaign period.