Skip to content Skip to navigation

ULFA Ready For Talks Through PCG

Guwahati: The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa on Sunday said the outfit was ready to hold peace talks with Indian Government to put an end the present impasse.
'We have all along been willing to hold talks for a respectable solution to the problem. We once again reiterate that if the Indian Government comes up with any proposal for a respectable solution to the problem and it is routed through the People's Consultative Group (PCG), we are ready to
consider,' Rajkhowa said in a statement published in its fortnightly newsletter Swadhinata or Freedom.’ The lack of any political solution has resulted in the conflict in
Assam turning violent,' the ULFA leader said.

The ULFA in September 2005 constituted the PCG, a group of civil society leaders, to begin exploratory talks with New Delhi aimed at facilitating direct negotiations between the rebel leadership and the government. Three rounds of talks between the PCG and New Delhi have taken place with
the first meeting being chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

The PCG became defunct as it withdrew itself from the peace process after the India government called off a six-week ceasefire with the ULFA in September last year and resumed military operations blaming the outfit of stepping up violence and extortions.

The ULFA had earlier set certain preconditions for holding talks with New Delhi - the main demand being that the government agrees to hold discussion on the issue of sovereignty or independence of Assam. The other two demands were to free the jailed ULFA leaders and give information on whereabouts of the leaders and workers of the outfit during operation in Bhutan. However, the India government had refused to talk on the issue of sovereignty and said that it would hold talk with the banned outfit without any pre condition. 'If the government really wants to see peace in Assam they can very well amend the constitution to discuss sovereignty with us. The
government has all along been saying that nothing could be discussed outside the constitutional parameters,' the ULFA chairman said. The ULFA chairman also suggested a referendum on the issue on independence under UN supervision. 'Such a thing has happened elsewhere and so what is the problem to hold a referendum here?' he asked.
The PCG became defunct as it withdrew itself from the peace process after the
India government called off a six-week ceasefire with the ULFA in September last year and resumed military operations blaming the outfit of stepping up violence and extortions.

The ULFA had earlier set certain preconditions for holding talks with New Delhi - the main demand being that the government agrees to hold discussion on the issue of sovereignty or independence of Assam. The other two demands were to free the jailed ULFA leaders and give information on whereabouts of the leaders and workers of the outfit during operation in Bhutan. However, the India government had refused to talk on the issue of sovereignty and said that it would hold talk with the banned outfit without any pre condition. 'If the government really wants to see peace in Assam they can very well amend the constitution to discuss sovereignty with us. The
government has all along been saying that nothing could be discussed outside the constitutional parameters,' the ULFA chairman said. The ULFA chairman also suggested a referendum on the issue on independence under UN supervision. 'Such a thing has happened elsewhere and so what is the problem to hold a referendum here?' he asked.

Add new comment

Random Stories

Cottonians Alumni Meet in Delhi

22 Feb 2011 - 7:24pm | Manoj Kumar Das
It was a journey down the memory lane for generations of ex-Cottonians living in the Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) comprising NOIDA, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad when alumni from 67...

Five fall ill after eating chapattis

28 May 2012 - 2:52am | editor
Five persons of a family have been found ill after they ate chapattis in Jorhat district on Sunday. The five member family of Ward No 2 of Jorhat town complained of stomach ache, nausea and vomiting...

Four people including one lady arrested with explosives

30 Jul 2007 - 1:01pm | editor
Dibrugarh: Dibrugarh Police have recovered a large amount of explosives from Namrup Twenty Four kg TNT explosives were recovered on Sunday night and four people including a woman have been arrested....

Rajan takes reins of Sainik school

17 Dec 2014 - 6:57am | Ranjan K Baruah
Sainik School Goalpara got a new principal after a gap of six months. Major Dipankar Sharma, the Registrar handed over the charge to the new incumbent, Captain Edwin Jothi Rajan who was serving as...

Other Contents by Author

A group of Naga people suspected to be sympathisers and supporters of of NSCN (I-M) attacked villagers on the Assam side in Sonapur, Borholla and Dhekiajuli on Assam-Nagaland border under Geleky sector in Sivasagar District around 3.15 in the morning. Three people have been reported dead in these various incidents. In Sonapur, the Naga attackers shot dead Sarabat Ali and Min Bahadur Chetri and one Kamal Bahadur Chetri was also killed when the Nagas detonated a land mine at Sarasajiya Village. Villagers while speaking to AssamTimes on the spot have expressed anguish that this is not the first time that this has happened and that there have been various such instances in the past but the...
The Bangladeshi immigration is continuing unabated in the Northeast. In what was considered to be a problem primarily in Assam seems to be extending to the other states of Northeast as well. The latest to join Assam and Tripura in this problem is Arunachal Pradesh. It is ironic that a State which has the Inner line Permit in place for even Indians seems to be having problems with immigrants from Bangladesh who seem to be entering into the State from Assam. These immigrants have started working in various menial jobs and have even set up small shops in some cases. The heartening fact is that unlike Assam, Arunchal Pradesh has started taking concrete steps to deport the illegal migrants out...
Dibrugarh: In a significant step, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has ordered that wages should be deducted for the month of June for Grade IV employees who went on a strike on June 8, 9 and 10 as they were dissatisfied with the fact that some of the staff was put on duty in different sections of the medical college. The announcement by Sarma for deduction of wages comes at a time when the employees have again gone on a strike since Tuesday after police arrested two Grade IV employees of the medical college in connection with the mysterious theft of a baby from the hospital on June 27. Sarma has indicated that similar or even more stringent action action may be taken for the...
Guwahati: The junior inter district football championship for the Santosh Lahkar Trophy will be organised at Kaliabor from July 15. 31 district teams are participating in the 14-day knock out meet. As is the norm, the inaugural match will give an opportunity for the hosts Kaliabor to display their talents as they take on Hojai.
One more Rhino was discovered dead in the famous Kaziranga National Park, home of the one horned Rhinoceros. The “Gar Kharga” (horn) of the Rhino was missing. A total of seven rhinos have been killed by the poachers this year for the horn. Authorities in Kaziranga had nothing much to comment as usual except mentioning that they were doing their best to curtail these killings.Organized poachers kill Rhinos for their horns, which many believe contain aphrodisiac qualities, besides being used as medicines for curing fever, stomach ailments and other diseases in parts of South Asia. Rhino horn is also much fancied by buyers from the Middle East who turn them into handles of...
Encephalitis is a viral inflammation of the brain. While some infections are mild, with few if any specific symptoms, others can be deadly. Early symptoms often include headaches, fever, and nausea. If the disease progresses, the person may suffer seizures, paralysis, mental confusion, and coma. Often the disease is accompanied by viral meningitis. Mosquitoes carry some of the most dangerous types of encephalitis, including equine encephalitis, West Nile encephalitis, and St. Louis encephalitis. In other cases, encephalitis develops as a secondary complication of other viral diseases, including chickenpox, herpes, mumps, polio, and rubella. Treatment depends on the type and severity of the...
Our correspondent Dhemaji: Encephalitis has been reported from Dhemaji. Already three children have been reported killed by the deadly disease. Medical authorities have put the area on high alert.(Further reading to understand Encephalitis, please read in the Knowledge and Development Section/ What is Encephalitis)
In a surprise statement, ULFA has claimed that P C Ram is still alive and the decomposed body recovered earlier was not of Ram. Police and Army personnel are discussing the latest update and they have decided to send in the matter from the ground from where they have recovered the body for a DNA test. Meanwhile his son Parvin when contacted has expressed surprise over the developments. He has said that if his father is still alive as claimed by ULFA, they should allow him to telephonically talk with the family which would be a proof that he is actually alive. He also wanted to understand why the Police could not think of doing a DNA test before
Unemployment is a burning problem in the country and Assam is no exception. The ever growing population has made it extremely difficult for the government to provide jobs for every educated youth. Educated unemployed are rapidly flooding the state. Government jobs have become a pipe dream. Here arises the need of introducing vocational training courses in our syllabi from an early stage in schools itself which will help the youth to be self sufficient rather than awaiting for that coveted dream job.Unlike other states the Northeast and Assam in particular has been deprived of private companies and Multi national Companies who shy away from investing in the region due to extremism. For the...
New Delhi: The Centre finetunes a slew of measures to ensure essential supply for the north eastern region following the damage of the Lumding-Badarpur railway network. Also immediate steps are there to restore the network. The Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday morning assessed the situation and issues instructions to the ministries of railways, food and public distribution, petroleum, road transport, home to ensure the supply of essential commodities in the region.Convened by the PMO, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, T K A Nair, Assam revenue minister Dr Bhumidhar Barman and key officials of the concerned ministries attended the meeting.The Assam Government informs that...