Ulfa leaders won’t talk peace from jail

GUWAHATI/NEW DELHI: The banned militant outfit Ulfa on Wednesday reiterated that peace talks can begin only if its leaders are freed from jail. Although the Tarun Gogoi government is keen on granting parole to at least eight top jailed Ulfa leaders to facilitate peace talks, New Delhi is apprehensive that the rebel leaders might jump parole and go underground.

Ulfa leaders, who had earlier said that they will not jump parole, said peace talks cannot take place in jail. “ULFA leaders cannot sit for peace talks from jail with handcuffs”, jailed ULFA ideologue Bhimkanta Buragohain told reporters in Tezpur where he was produced before a fast track court.

The Centre is not quite convinced about the Ulfa’s pledge on not jumping parole as Arabinda Rajkhowa and Raju Baruah were picked up after an alert by Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) from Cox’s Bazaar in Chittagong while trying to cross over to Myanmar. Apprehending arrest in the wake of Sheikh Hasina’s government cooperation with India on tackling insurgent groups like Ulfa and NDFB operating from Bangladeshi soil, Rajkhowa and others had planned to enter Myanmar.

On Tuesday, Rajkhowa had said that his outfit cannot think of talks when its leaders are inside jail. “We cannot think of negotiations from inside the jail and we will not give any letter to the government for holding talks,” Rajkhowa had said from a hospital where was brought for treatment.