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New Delhi, Assam buckle before
Ulfa leadership, plead for talks
WSN Bureau
 New
Delhi: India is blowing hot and cold over Ulfa, and while some arms
of the government are out to malign the militant body by first
claiming that a section of the leadership had surrendered, others
are still trying to see if talks can seriously take off with the
militants.
Now, the Assam
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has offered ULFA commander-in-chief
Paresh Baruah “safe passage” to and fro if he is willing to leave
his hideout and come forward for talks with the government.
“I am willing to
give safe passage to Paresh Baruah if he abjures violence, gives up
the sovereignty demand and comes for talks,” Gogoi was quoted in the
Indian Express as saying. He gave an undertaking that the government
will not arrest him and that he will be free to go back if the talks
fail.
It is surprising
to see that the Indian government never tried such an approach when
it came to Punjab. Instead, it preferred to send tanks into the
Golden
Temple.
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The
massive support for peoples' movements continues to grow, and the
government has little option but to buckle before the swelling ranks
and determined resolves of those who stand for justice. The question
arises that if Gogoi is ready to put a gamcha around Rajkhowa's
shoulders, what prevents Prakash Singh Badal from calling the
panthic leaders to a negotiating table and find a way out of the
mess that his support to deras, Ashutoshias, Sirsa sadh and others
has created? Why is Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu languishing in jail?
Will Mr Badal take to the Gogoi line only when radicals will take to
Ulfa line? |
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The elusive
Baruah is believed to be holed up somewhere in the jungles of
Myanmar with added intelligence that he also crosses over to China
at times.
Gogoi’s fresh
initiative to extend the olive branch to the top militant is
significant in the backdrop of the capture of ULFA chairman Arabinda
Rajkhowa earlier this month who is now in custody of security
agencies in Assam. At the Centre, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram
told Rajya Sabha that the government was willing to hold talks with
the ULFA leadership, including the arrested Rajkhowa.
Clearly, the
so-called hard state India is buckling before the people's
movements. Even as the right wing forces raise the bogey that India
should stop acting like a soft state and there is no end to those
who demand that in order to send signals that
New Delhi
was now very strong it should hang Afzal Guru, the situation on the
ground is different.
The massive
support for peoples' movements continues to grow, and the government
has little option but to buckle before the swelling ranks and
determined resolves of those who stand for justice. See the way the
Assam CM was beseeching for talks: “We may even withdraw all cases
against the ULFA leadership if the talks succeed... a similar
initiative had been taken in the case of Bodo militants as well as
in Mizoram...The same principles will apply.” Gogoi has already met
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram in New Delhi where the
ULFA issue was discussed.
Extending the
offer to Rajkhowa, Gogoi said the government was willing to give due
dignity to the ULFA chairman in custody if he agreed for talks
within the ambit of the Constitution. “I’ll put a gamcha on him and
embrace him,” he said. The gamcha, a typical Assamese light towel,
is normally draped around the shoulders while according respect to
someone. “Inspite of all the senseless killings of students, minor
boys and girls, we are prepared to talk in order to bring lasting
peace, progress and development in
Assam.
The government door is open,” he said.
But the question
arises that if Gogoi is ready to put a gamcha around Rajkhowa's
shoulders, what prevents Prakash Singh Badal from calling the
panthic leaders to a negotiating table and find a way out of the
mess that his support to deras, Ashutoshias, Sirsa sadh and others
has created? Why is Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu languishing in jail?
Will Mr Badal take to the Gogoi line only when radicals will take to
Ulfa line?
23
December 2009
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