Guwahati: The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) or ULFA (Independent) led by fugitive commander-in-chief Paresh Barua has become a major hurdle in Government’s effort to bring all the major insurgents groups in Assam to negotiation table.
The The United Liberation Front of Assam or ULFA (I) has remained adamant in its stand of ‘no negotiation unless the demand for a sovereign Assam is put on the agenda of talks’ and thereby negates chances of talks with the government of India which has already made it clear that country’s sovereignty can’t be discussed with an armed militant group.
Security sources informed that though the negotiation between the Government of India and the ULFA faction led by Arabinda Rajkhowa was going in the right direction, the ULFA problem couldn’t be resolved for good unless the fraction led by Paresh Barua could not be made part of the peace process.
Assam police maintains that ULFA (Independent) leader Paresh Barua has taken shelter in Myanmar and is not interested in holding talks with the Government of India. The ULFA leader shifted his base to Myanmar from Bangladesh few years back once Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh started responding to India’s call to evict Indian insurgents taking shelter in the soil of the neighbouring country.
The ULFA anti-talks faction is now left with 200 odd hardcore cadres and leaders after a large number of senior leaders and cadres of the parent ULFA opted for negotiation with the government of India under the leadership of ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa. But it remains a potent force till Paresh Barua remains its supreme commander. Barring ULFA (Independent) all the major militant groups in Assam including the ULFA (pro-talks), two factions of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) , two factions of Dima Halam Daogah (DHD), United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) have been engaged in dialogue by the Government of India in separate peace initiatives.
However, the Central government has ruled out negotiation with Songbijit faction of the NDFB or the NDFB(S) which resorted to dastardly massacre of innocent Adivasis in Assam in December last year. The NDFB-S is on the run after the Army and Assam Police have intensified operation to neutralise the outfit.
