Ulfa to name citizens’ delegation for talks

“Barua told me the ULFA has decided to send a delegation consisting of eight eminent persons who would hold discussions with the Prime Minister’s Office and find out the possibilities of bringing about an atmosphere for negotiations,” Goswami said.

“The list is being prepared by ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and Paresh Barua, but I am right now not in a position to disclose the names for obvious reasons,” she added.

But some of the names doing the rounds include that of a senior Guwahati-based journalist, a human rights activist, an educationist and a former ULFA leader besides Goswami herself.

The noted writer said National Security Advisor M K Narayanan had rung her up twice today to find out details about the ULFA move. “The government is most likely to fix a date in the first half of October to sit for discussions with the delegation,” she said.

Goswami said Barua rung her up once again in the evening.

ULFA inched closer to talks in September last year after Rajkhowa and Barua agreed to accept Goswami as an interlocutor. The first discussion between Goswami and Narayanan took place in October.

Students’ strike cripples Manipur

IMPHAL: Most part of the state wore a deserted look on Wednesday following a near-total response to a bandh called by Manipur University Students’ Union (MUSU) to protest against the abduction of its president Ashok Kumar from the university campus by five gunmen on Tuesday.

Markets, shops and business establishments remained closed, while inter-state bus services were cancelled, sources said, adding that attendance in government offices was much below normal. —ENS