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UWAHATI: Ulfa's demand for sovereignty the long-hurting thorn preventing the initiation of peace talks between the Centre and the banned rebel
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outfit caused a fresh bout of pain on Wednesday. Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa said the Union government lacks "logic and courage" to sit for talks.
His comments were a scathing reply to Union home minister P Chidambaram's statement the day before. Blaming the proscribed group for Sunday's twin blasts in Nalbari, Chidambaram had said on Tuesday that talks with Ulfa were leading nowhere as its leadership was holed up outside the country. "Our position on militant groups in the North-East is very simple and straightforward give up violence, give up arms, give up any claim for sovereignty, we are willing to hold dialogue," he had stressed.
In a statement e-mailed to the media on Wednesday, Rajkhowa said Chidambaram's comment in Parliament on sovereignty only proved the Centre's lack of courage. "Otherwise, it (Centre) would not have made such an irresponsible statement to stay away from the political process and solve the issue. Our stand is clear Ulfa won't bow down before India for dialogue. We want a political solution of the issues and that is possible without sitting for talks," the Ulfa chairman said.
In the same breath, Rajkhowa added that Ulfa was in favour of talks to end the ideological conflict and get a peaceful solution. However, he warned, "The government should make it clear in Parliament if it wants a military solution to the issues. We will continue to fight to establish the rights of the people of Assam."
On the other hand, in a major development, security forces in Assam's Chirang district killed a prominent Ulfa leader suspected to be involved in Sunday's Nalbari explosions that left six people dead and injured 52 others. A joint army and police team gunned down the Ulfa cadre during an encounter in Bishnupur village under Bijni police station about 100 km away from the blast site on Wednesday morning. The militant, identified as Mohan Roy alias Mama alias Sukumar Kurmi is the "second-in-command" of Ulfa's "709 battalion", which has been blamed for the Nalbari attacks.
A senior police officer in Chirang told TOI that Roy had been arrested during "Operation All Clear" in neighboring Bhutan by the Royal Bhutan Army in 2003 and was the right-hand man of Hira Sarania, the "commander" of the outfit's battalion. "Based on information, a joint team of security forces cordoned off the area and set up an ambush. The rebel was killed in retaliatory gunshots after he opened fire at security forces. Since the "709 battalion" is responsible for the blasts, we suspect his involvement in the attacks, too," the police officer added.
Cops recovered a US-made 9mm pistol with ammunition and an extortion note demanding Rs 5 lakh from local MLA Kamal Singh Narzary from the slain militant. "The extortion note we have recovered from him was signed by Hira Sarania," the senior police officer said.
UWAHATI: Ulfa's demand for sovereignty the long-hurting thorn preventing the initiation of peace talks between the Centre and the banned rebel
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outfit caused a fresh bout of pain on Wednesday. Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa said the Union government lacks "logic and courage" to sit for talks.
His comments were a scathing reply to Union home minister P Chidambaram's statement the day before. Blaming the proscribed group for Sunday's twin blasts in Nalbari, Chidambaram had said on Tuesday that talks with Ulfa were leading nowhere as its leadership was holed up outside the country. "Our position on militant groups in the North-East is very simple and straightforward give up violence, give up arms, give up any claim for sovereignty, we are willing to hold dialogue," he had stressed.
In a statement e-mailed to the media on Wednesday, Rajkhowa said Chidambaram's comment in Parliament on sovereignty only proved the Centre's lack of courage. "Otherwise, it (Centre) would not have made such an irresponsible statement to stay away from the political process and solve the issue. Our stand is clear Ulfa won't bow down before India for dialogue. We want a political solution of the issues and that is possible without sitting for talks," the Ulfa chairman said.
In the same breath, Rajkhowa added that Ulfa was in favour of talks to end the ideological conflict and get a peaceful solution. However, he warned, "The government should make it clear in Parliament if it wants a military solution to the issues. We will continue to fight to establish the rights of the people of Assam."
On the other hand, in a major development, security forces in Assam's Chirang district killed a prominent Ulfa leader suspected to be involved in Sunday's Nalbari explosions that left six people dead and injured 52 others. A joint army and police team gunned down the Ulfa cadre during an encounter in Bishnupur village under Bijni police station about 100 km away from the blast site on Wednesday morning. The militant, identified as Mohan Roy alias Mama alias Sukumar Kurmi is the "second-in-command" of Ulfa's "709 battalion", which has been blamed for the Nalbari attacks.
A senior police officer in Chirang told TOI that Roy had been arrested during "Operation All Clear" in neighboring Bhutan by the Royal Bhutan Army in 2003 and was the right-hand man of Hira Sarania, the "commander" of the outfit's battalion. "Based on information, a joint team of security forces cordoned off the area and set up an ambush. The rebel was killed in retaliatory gunshots after he opened fire at security forces. Since the "709 battalion" is responsible for the blasts, we suspect his involvement in the attacks, too," the police officer added.
Cops recovered a US-made 9mm pistol with ammunition and an extortion note demanding Rs 5 lakh from local MLA Kamal Singh Narzary from the slain militant. "The extortion note we have recovered from him was signed by Hira Sarania," the senior police officer said.
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