GUWAHATI, Sept 21: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said he has been given the “go-ahead” by Union home minister Amit Shah to initiate preliminary discussions with the Paresh Baruah-led United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I).
Speaking to reporters here, Sarma said the Union home minister had during a meeting with him in New Delhi on Monday night asked him to start preliminary talks with the militant outfit to “gradually” take the peace process on track.
“The Assam government had maintained some (informal and through third party) communication with ULFA-I ‘commander-in chief’ Paresh Baruah after formation of the government (in May this year). So I had asked the Union home minister whether I could directly talk to the outfit’s chief over phone or through other media so that a push could be given to the peace process. He was affirmative and asked me to go ahead …and once the talks gain momentum or reach a certain stage, then the Centre will engage in the process in a way it finds suitable,” the chief minister said.
“But the talks will be preliminary…no conclusion should be drawn…it will be a gradual affair,” he added.
Asked about the state government’s firm stand against newly-formed militant outfits, Sarma said that “any militant outfit that randomly warns in a video that if so and so is not released from jail by October, then we will resort to violence and kill people. Such warnings cannot be taken lightly and police have to act firm against the militant outfit before it resorts to violence.”
“So I appeal to people not to give indulgence or allow insurgency to raise its head again in the state,” he said.