By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS
Guwahati : The stepped-up violence in Assam by the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) is being described as a trap to force the government into agreeing for talks on the rebel group’s terms.
“The government should not act in haste and succumb to the pressure tactics of the ULFA…stepping up attacks is a ploy by the rebels to force the government to go slow in their anti-insurgency operations and toe their line,” an army commander said, requesting not to be named.
Security and intelligence officials were reacting to a statement by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi hinting about releasing five top jailed ULFA leaders to facilitate formal face-to-face talks between the rebel group and Indian government negotiators.
“Let the ULFA come for direct talks with the government and if they do so, I am prepared to release their jailed leaders,” Gogoi told the Assam assembly Thursday night.
The offer for talks comes in the wake of spiralling violence in Assam by the ULFA in the last one week – a string of explosions and raids killing 15 people, including eight Hindi-speaking migrant workers.
Around this time last year in the run-up to Independence Day, the ULFA went berserk with a wave of bombings and attacks killing dozens of people. On Aug 13, 2006 New Delhi surprised everybody in Assam by announcing a unilateral ceasefire for an initial period of 10 days, which was subsequently extended to six weeks.
“We were sincere in our efforts for peace and hence announced the ceasefire last year. But the ULFA failed to respect our goodwill gesture forcing us to call off the truce and resume military operations once again,” the chief minister said.
Gogoi later told journalists that the decision to offer the unilateral ceasefire gave the ULFA time to ‘re-group’.
Is the government going to commit the same mistake once again? That is the question raised by security and intelligence officials.
“It appears to be a knee-jerk reaction by the government. Instead of keeping the heat on the ULFA, the government is trying to adopt a soft stand,” an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.
The chief minister, however, rejects such fears.
“We want direct talks and nothing less than that. Moreover there is no question of discussing sovereignty or independence as a precondition for talks as put forward by the ULFA. We are already independent and people don’t buy ULFA’s theory,” Gogoi said.
The ceasefire last year collapsed after the government accused the ULFA of stepping up attacks and extortions – a tea planter was killed during the truce period.
“The ball is now in the ULFA’s court and if they really want peace they should come for direct talks without any delay,” Gogoi said.