Govt clears decks for talks with Ulfa

NEW DELHI: Even as the Ulfa is yet to formally respond to the Centre’s unilateral suspension of operations against the secessionist outfit, a meeting between the Ministry of home affairs (MHA) brass and key members of the People’s Consultative Group (PCG) may be held soon to discuss the modalities for a direct government-Ulfa dialogue.

PCG members Indira Goswami and Rebati Phukan may call on Union home secretary V K Duggal after August 17 — by then, the latter’s pre-occupation with I-Day security arrangements would have ended — to deliberate on the Ulfa’s conditions for initiation of direct talks with the Centre.

At the meeting, which is also likely to be attended by National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, PCG members may once again stress on the insurgent group’s demand of releasing five of its jailed leaders before talks can get under way.

The Centre, however, sources privy to the negotiations confirmed, is firm that the release of the jailed leaders would have to be in sync with the Ulfa’s committing a date and time for direct talks and publicly renouncing violence. Earlier on Sunday, the Centre had announced a unilateral suspension of operations against Ulfa for “a few days.”

This, said sources, was essentially to pre-empt any violence by the outfit in the wake of Independence Day. According to an official, Ulfa — which has continued carrying out attacks over the last week, which left 13 people dead and over 60 injured — is now under pressure to show its commitment to peace in Assam by matching the Centre’s olive branch with a reciprocal cessation of hostilities.

This, the official insisted, was necessary for Ulfa to sustain public support which now increasingly favoured peaceful means of the settlement of a decades-old separatist struggle.

“We have given them (Ulfa) a few days to rest and relax and come up with a suitable response that would match our commitment to peace in Assam,” said an official here, adding that the Centre-PCG informal talks next week would hopefully prepare the ground for an initiation of direct dialogue between Union home minister Shivraj Patil and Ulfa.

This would essentially include setting a deadline for the outfit to come to the negotiating table, the composition of its dialogue team, and how the release of its five jailed leaders — vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi, ideologue Bhimkanta Buragohain, publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary, cultural secretary Pranati Deka and leader Ramu Mech — may be co-ordinated with the opening of direct talks.

The Centre, said sources, is likely to insist that the Ulfa’s team for direct talks with the government comprise senior leaders other than the five who are to be released. Officials here are likely to ask the PCG to convey to the Ulfa that its delegation should comprise some front-ranking leaders — if possible, Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa himself.