Guwahati,(IANS) A peace facilitator in Assam, who was part of a rebel-nominated peace panel, has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to restrain the army in the state from making “provocative statements”, saying such unwarranted remarks would not help resume the peace process.
Hiranya Saikia, a member of the People’s Consultative Group (PCG), was nominated to the peace panel by the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in September 2005. On Tuesday, he accused the topmost Army official in Assam – Lt. Gen. B.S. Jaswal – of having “vitiated the atmosphere” in the state by making “threatening comments”.
Jaswal, who is the general officer commanding (GOC) the IV Corps, had recently said the families of ULFA cadres must prevail upon their “wayward sons” to shun violence and join the mainstream or else they should get ready to receive their bodies.
The GOC of the IV Corps, based in the northern garrison town of Tezpur, heads the operational command of the unified headquarters of the army, police and paramilitary forces in counter-insurgency offensives against the ULFA across the state.
Saikia, known to be close to the ULFA’s elusive commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah, said Jaswal’s stand is in sharp contradiction to the position taken by the government that insurgency was a political problem, requiring a political solution.
“Even senior army generals are on record as saying that there can be no military solution to the ULFA insurgency in Assam,” Saikia, a businessman, said.
The Indian government held three rounds of peace talks with the 11-member PCG, headed by noted Assamese writer Indira Goswami, leading to a temporary truce in August 2006.
The truce broke down and counter-insurgency operations resumed on Sep 26 last year after the talks between the government and the PCG failed over conditions and counter-conditions put up by both sides.
While the ULFA insisted on the release from prison of five of their detained leaders, the government was bent on having a written communication from the ULFA saying it was really interested in starting formal peace negotiations.
“We want that the peace process should resume. But it appears that certain sections are trying hard to make sure it does not happen,” Saikia alleged.