Some of the sentiments a number of us have been expressing. ______________________________ I -Day violence Calls by the insurgent outfits to boycott the Independence Day and Republic Day has become the order of the day and this year is no exception as four militant outfits of the north eastern region including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) have given a call to boycott the Independence Day celebrations. The ULFA, in an apparent move to deter the people of Assam from celebrating the day, even went to the extent of claiming that it would attack the venues of the Independence Day celebrations. But on the positive side, the number of militant outfits giving calls for Independence Day celebrations is coming down with every passing year with more and more militant outfits coming forward for talks with the Government of India for political solution of their problems and the possibility of the ULFA being totally isolated in the days to come cannot be ruled out. Major militant outfits of the North East region including both the factions of the NSCN have been holding talks with the Government of India, while, the ULFA lost another of its partner- National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) as the Bodo outfit has also signed a cease-fire pact with the Government of India, which prevented the outfit from giving any call to boycott the Independence Day celebrations.
The threat by the ULFA to attack the venues of the Independence Day celebrations also exposed the fact that the frustration level of the outfit is growing with every passing year. The ULFA can give boycott calls, but the people of Assam have the right to decide whether to attend the celebrations or not and no one has the right to use force to compel anyone from attending any function. The gruesome killing of 13 women and children in Dhemaji during the Independence Day celebrations last year is still fresh in the memory of the people of Assam and the ULFA should remember the State-wide public outcry against such kind of mindless killing before issuing any threat to the people who decide to attend the Independence Day celebrations. The ULFA should also realise the fact that any killing of innocent people will further alienate the outfit from the masses and so they should desist from targeting innocent people to achieve their goals. The outfit should also realise that it would never be able to justify the killing of any innocent person to achieve its goal. The Police and other security agencies have made tight security arrangements to foil any attempt by the militant outfit from causing any disturbance, but no amount of security is adequate as the forces cannot be expected to guard every inch of the land. The militants have let loose a reign of terror in different parts of Assam with a series of bomb explosions during the run up to the Independence Day and instead of engaging the forces in encounters, the militants have started to resort to explosions to make their presence felt. With the availability of highly sophisticated explosive devices including the programmable time devices with the militants, it is impossible to detect bombs planted in vulnerable places with the equipment available with the State Police and efforts should be made to procaure sophisticated equipment to detect bombs planted by the militants under the scheme to modernise the State police force. At the same time, efforts should be made by the Government of India to bring the militants to the negotiation table for a political solution to the problem of insurgency, which haunted the State for more than two decades and at the time, the militants should also respect the sentiments of the people of Assam and come forward for talks with the Government for an amicable solution of their problems. The people of Assam are now fed up with violence and they want a peaceful solution to the problem and both the Government and the ULFA should come forward for talks without any pre-condition to bring an end to an era of violence and loss of life of innocent people. _______________________________________________ Assam mailing list Assam@pikespeak.uccs.edu 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
