Quite an amazing piece Ram. I wonder who writes these things.
Personally, it is one of the most absurd pieces of garbage in the name
of journalism I have seen. I can lead into it sentence by sentence.
But will refrain for now, unless I must :-).
For a more thoughtful piece, look at the Wasbir Hussein article
from Tehelka I am forwarding.
At 12:25 PM -0500 9/26/06, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
Here is another one from the Sentinel. I understand, it doesn't provide 'comfortable reading' for some of our netters, but they do point out a few things. Highlights mine.
There are also some interesting thoughts on raising capital for 'bidiness' (of course without any collateral).
--Ram
Of Deceit and Betrayal
That the peace process between the Government of India and the ULFA should meander after having had the Asomiyas hoping for winds of change following the constitution of the People's Consultative Group (PCG) by the banned outfit, is not so surprising. Given that the PCG was hand-picked by the ULFA to further its own interest, and given that the PCG did actually present a very partisan view of the whole 'insurgency' riddle as if it was to voice not the Asomiya concern but only the ULFA's, one would readily conclude that the very process of peace was on a shaky ground. It is not only the wise and enlightened Asomiyas who negate the idea of Asom's sovereignty, but, as of now, it is also the ordinary Asomiya masses who have had enough of senseless violence - the reason why the State remains so backward - that went in the name of a romantic revolution, continuing as ever. The writing on the wall is that sovereignty is too utopian, especially at a time when the very notion of sovereignty has changed in the wake of transnationalism and globalization. Not only this, by this time the ULFA must have also had the wisdom - out of its own experience with the Indian state - to understand that there is absolutely no reason to dwell on the sovereignty theme , that too for a State whose populace has so much to share with the rest of the country. And one expected the PCG to make the ULFA understand this simple fact.
Having said this, what now transpires is that the ULFA might have never wanted to sit for direct talks with the Government of India. After all, the ULFA's desire for peace in Asom also means the desire of the Bangladesh-ISI duo for the same peace - which cannot be. How can Bangladesh, where the ULFA top brass finds a safe haven and whose nationals crowd Asom to annex the State, and the notorious ISI ever think of normalcy in this part of the country? And so the voice of ULFA C-in-C Paresh Baruah sounds not like an Asomiya's that would rescue Asom from an imminent doom - annexation by Bangladesh and the making of an Islamic state (since Bangladesh is not secular but Islamic). The voice is ISI's, in collaboration with the fundamentalist and terrorist groups having their field day in a Talibanized Bangladesh. Else, a simple letter was all that the Centre wanted from the ULFA - a letter stating the outfit's desire for direct talks, for peace, for the sake of the people of Asom, for a better tomorrow here, but surely not for the sake of illegal Bangladeshis on whom the outfit remains so blissfully silent as though these illegal hordes were the one that the outfit would protect, come what may.
That is why perhaps we hear Paresh Baruah passing a decree: that 'Indians' living in Asom should pay tax to the ULFA, and that the Asomiyas are to make generous contributions for the making of a sovereign Asom - an Asom, as we have written several times here, in the grip of aliens; an Asom that cannot belong to the Asomiyas, already a minority by now in their own land. What a refreshing equation, then, that illegal Bangladeshis in Asom have been exempted from the ULFA's tax configuration! And why should not they be? Is it not the ISI and its partners in Bangladesh that would have the minority in Asom - the Asomiyas - as extortion targets? In a land that is to be the most suitable part of a greater Bangladesh, why should the Bangladeshis be taxed or asked to make generous contribution? As for direct talks with the Government of India then, first Mr Baruah & Co should free themselves of the Bangladesh-ISI grip to undo their deceit and betrayal.
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