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Indian PM holds Assam peace talks http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4377388.stm | ||
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Ulfa has been fighting Indian forces for 26 years Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is due to hold talks with representatives of a leading separatist group from the north-eastern state of Assam. An 11-member group representing the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) is in Delhi for talks aimed at ending nearly 25 years of insurgency. The representative group includes human rights activists, journalists and writers among others. More than 10,000 people have died in the rebel fight for independence. Ahead of the talks the peace delegation said it would raise the issue of Assam's sovereignty with the government. "Our job is to convince the government that for peace talks with Ulfa, they should at least agree to a discussion on the issue of Assam's sovereignty," Lachit Bordoloi, a human rights activist and part of the delegation, told the BBC. "Ceasefire and release of Ulfa members are two more important issues," journalist Ajit Bhuyian said. Apart from the prime minister, India's national security advisor and the chief minister of Assam are expected to be present at the talks. "The presence of the prime minister in the talks is in itself an indication of the sincerity of the Indian government in solving the insurgency problem in Assam," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told AFP. Operations ceased Last month, the Indian army called off a counter-insurgency operation against Ulfa rebels in Assam on the orders of the federal government. The move was aimed at facilitating the current peace talks. Last year, Ulfa rejected an offer of talks because of a demand that the group give up violence ahead of any dialogue. Ulfa is one of the most powerful of nearly a dozen separatist groups fighting Indian security forces in the north-east. |
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