ULFA out of touch with people of Asom: Narayanan

On Board Air India One, Jan 13 (UNI) National Security Adviser M K Narayanan today urged the people of Asom to reject violent forces such as the United Liberation Front of Asom who, he said, were out of touch with the people of the state.

''The people of Asom must reject such forces,'' he told Journalists accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Cebu in Phillipines for the 5th India-ASEAN Summit and the 2nd East Asia Summit to be held there over the next two days.

Dr Singh is due to visit the violence-hit areas of Asom on January 16. He will fly from Cebu to Kolkata on Monday and stay there overnight before leaving for Asom, official sources said.

''The ULFA leadership is out of touch with the people of Asom and is guided by external forces,'' he said.

In response to a question, he said ULFA leaders Paresh Baruah and Aravinda Rajkhowa were ''sitting in Dhaka and being guided by forces inimical to India''.

Mr Narayanan said the Centre was keen on establishing peace in Asom. He regretted that ULFA had unleashed violence on innocent people in the state and said the government would pursue the outfit ''in a manner which we have avoided so far.'' He denied the Centre had been soft towards ULFA till now.

''There was an offer for dialogue, which we accepted and we have held three rounds of talks so far,'' he pointed out. He regretted that ULFA had now launched attacks against innocent people.

More than 70 people, most of them Hindi-speaking migrant labourers, have been killed by the ULFA in Asom in the last week.

UNI