Thursday, June 16, 2005 Governor raises red flag on ULFA talks Opposes release of 10 ULFA members, saying the outfit may regroup SUDHI RANJAN SEN NEW DELHI, JUNE 15 Assam Governor Lt Gen Ajai Singh today cautioned the Centre on its proposal to engage the ULFA in peace talks.
Addressing the Governor's conference here, Governor Singh opposed the release of 10 ULFA members, as sought by the Assam government and the banned terrorist outfit ahead of the proposed talks. ULFA chief Paresh Barua had earlier responded to an invitation from National Security Advisor (NSA) M K Narayanan by demanding that the state should ''unconditionally'' release his colleagues to enable the outfit's central committee to meet on talks. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who faces elections next year, had backed that demand during a visit to New Delhi recently. Governor Singh, however, suggested that the Centre should give ULFA leaders a ''safe passage'' to Guwahati where they could discuss the talks proposal with their arrested colleagues at the state prison. According to Lt Gen Singh, the Government should first ensure that organisations, such as ULFA, are serious about talks. The Governor pointed out that the ULFA had rejected peace initiatives in the past and added that the organisation, presently in disarray, may use the peace initiative to regroup. Senior Home Ministry officials are also understood to be sceptical about Gogoi's backing for the ULFA demand. They feel that pressure should be maintained on such organisations. _______________________________________________ Assam mailing list [email protected] http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam Mailing list FAQ: http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/assam/assam-faq.html To unsubscribe or change options: http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam
