Guwahati, Jul 13 : Recent announcement of unilateral ceasefire by the A and C companies of the 28 battalion of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) raised questions in the minds of the people on whether history will repeat itself as in the past also the charter of demands placed by the surrendered ULFA members before the Government remained in cold storage and the problem of militancy remained as before. Meanwhile, the ULFA members who are supporting the ceasefire, have started moving into the designated camp set up at Sadiya.
Police sources said that the leaders of A and C companies of the 28 battalion have submitted a list of 67 cadres who would move into the designated camp and they have started moving in from yesterday. Sources said that the maintenance of the camp would be looked into by the Government and the inmates of the camp would not be allowed to indulge in extortions or collect donations in the name of maintaining the camps. The security of those in ceasefire would be looked into by the police.Police said that according to the leaders of the 28 battalion, 52 other members of the A and C companies, including 40 new recruits, are in Myanmar and they are likely to come over whenever they get an opportunity.
Meanwhile, former ULFA publicity secretary Sunil Nath, who came over ground in 1992, expressed the view that it would be difficult to find permanent solution of the problem till the top leaders of the ULFA come forward for talks. He also pointed out that meaningful dialogue with those who came over ground in 1992 on the basis of the charter of demands would have weakened the leadership of the ULFA, but at that time, the Government did not take the opportunity.
A number of senior leaders of the ULFA came over ground in 1992 and the general secretary of the outfit Anup Chetia was arrested in Kolkata. A team of those surrendered leaders comprising Anup Chetia, Sunil Nath, Kalpajyoti Neog, Amarjyoti Handique and others also met the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and Home Minister SB Chavan and expressed their willingness to hold talks.
Recalling the events at that time, Nath said, “we also told the Prime Minister that we are ready for talks within the framework of the Constitution of India. We demanded that the Government should announce a cease-fire to create a congenial atmosphere for talks.” However, he admitted that at that time also, the ULFA commander in chief Paresh Baruah was not in favour of talks with the Government of India. After the meeting with the Prime Minister, Anup Chetia said that he would go to convince the other senior leaders for talks and was released. But he never came back.
In the meantime, the surrendered militants held a convention in Bokakhat in Golaghat district and submitted a charter of demands to the State Government. Nath said that one of the major demands placed by them before the Government was setting up of multipurpose projects for controlling floods and to generate power. The charter of demands also included demands for overall economic development of Assam. But the State Government held only two rounds of talks and then the charter of demands was put in cold storage.
Nath said that at that time, the ULFA was in total disarray but failure of the Government to hold meaningful dialogue on the charter of demands helped the ULFA to gain ground. He expressed the view that since then though a number of members of the ULFA came over ground, new people entered the outfit and it is unlikely that the problem would be solved till the top leaders come forward for talks.
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