Goswami tries to revive peace talks through Moily

Guwahati, Jan 12 (UNI) ULFA Peace process initiator Dr Indira Goswami has once again launched a new effort to bring peace in Asom by roping in former Karnataka Chief Minister Veerappa Moily.

Addressing a news conference, she said today that she had talks with Mr Moily and convinced him to impress upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to issue a fresh appeal to ULFA for talks.

''I think that will help me to convince the ULFA to come to the negotiating table. He has just to send a fresh letter with no changes to his earlier stands'' she said. She and Mr Moily have known each other for decades.

She hoped that the Prime Minister's stand of discussing the ''core issue'' should be sufficient to convince ULFA to agree to hold talks.

The ULFA has, however, been insisting that they would come to the negotiation table only on the stand of the ''sovereignty'' which Ms Goswami also ruled out.

''A Prime Minister cannot say that on record and in black and white'' she said.

Ms Goswami, however, today made it clear that she did not believe that sovereignty of Asom would resolve the problem. ''I rather believe in a boundary less society,'' she said.

The Press Conference was called to counter Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's charge that she had hidden an ''ISI angle''. According to Mr Gogoi , Mrs Goswami was briefed that ULFA was in the grip of the ISI and was not interested in talks.

''If that was the case, why did the Centre and the state government respond to an appeal of a writer like me. I am very hurt.

I am a writer only and not a politician'' she said.

She, however, refused to bow out saying that she could continue to play her role till she could convince both sides to sit on the negotiation table. '' I am not the mediator neither I have that political knowledge. Since I know all the parties, I am trying to make them sit face to face'' she said.

She was, however, still hopeful that a new effort through Mr Moily would bear fruit and ULFA too would respond to end the retaliatory violence. Her statement came at a time when a full-scale operation was launched by the Army following escalating violence by the ultras.

UNI