No point without direct ULFA talks: Gogoi

Guwahati, Jun 13: Asom Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today made it clear that talks can be successful only if the ULFA top brass was directly involved in the peace discussion.

''There is no point discussing with their representatives,'' he said, while welcoming the latest efforts by the Nagarik Shanti Mancha Asom(NSMA) to revive the talk.

''I suspect that they(ULFA) are not free to take decision. They seem to be under the influence of some one,'' he added.

Asked on whether his government was going "soft" with the ULFA, he reiterated, ''This is a wrong notion. Why do you not see the figures. I do not believe that people of Asom are under any kind of fear. There were incidents, there was fear but the people here have overcome all that.'' On the other hand, according to the NSMA representative Dr Indira Goswami, the Centre was "rehashing its old terms and conditions, proposing unconditional talks in presence of either of the top leaders of the outfit, besides offering safe passage".

The Government of India's response was conveyed by National Security Adviser(NSA), MK Narayanan to Mancha's president Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami last afternoon at New Delhi afternoon, following their meeting with the Prime Minister, previous evening. The most crucial issue that led to the deadlock last time, remained inconclusive, with the Centre ruling out the possibility of releasing the five detained ULFA leaders.

The Centre, however, offered to facilitate a meeting with the detained leaders in jail with the officials.

Later, briefing newsmen about Centre's response, Dr Goswami said it has been conveyed to them that the Centre would wait for communication from either chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa or commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, expressing their willingness to come for talks without conditions.

The Centre insisted that a dialogue with them will be with an emissary selected by both parties. Further, they assured that arrangements would be made if there was any need to contact the ULFA leaders in jail.

''As in the past, the Centre has offered safe passage,'' said Dr Goswami.

Last time, the Centre had suggested that ULFA name its team of negotiators and set a time frame for the dialogues to begin.

The Mancha yesterday appealed to the Union government to consider the three demands of ULFA, stating that they should not be treated as hindrance in initiating talks.

In this connection, the Mancha leaders iterated they have no formal contact with any of the top ULFA leaders and that their channel of communication is through the detained leaders.

They conveyed to the Centre that they had held discussions with the detained leaders before coming to Delhi.

UNI

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