A Memorandum of Settlement will be signed between Government of India, Government of Assam and representatives of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) in presence of Union Home Minister & Minister of Cooperation, Sh. Amit Shah tomorrow (Dec 29th) at 5 pm in New Delhi - Assam Chief Minister's Office
A Tripartite peace accord on cards between ULFA, the Modi Government and Assam Govt likely on Dec 29
Sources say the accord will take care of a host of long-standing political, economic and social issues concerning Assam, besides providing cultural safeguards and land rights to the indigenous people.
ULFA chairman Rajkhowa at North Block in New Delhi in 2011 with the then Home Secretary G. K. Pillai
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| Pillai with Rajkhowa: 2011 |
But importantly, the hardline faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), led by Paresh Baruah, will not be part of the agreement.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and over a dozen top leaders of the pro-talks faction of the ULFA, headed by Arabinda Rajkhowa, will be present at the signing of the peace agreement here.
The Rajkhowa-led ULFA faction had begun "unconditional talks" with the central government in 2011 during the Congress-led regime when Rajkhowa was held probably in coordination with agencies and authorities in Bangladesh. Actually Rajkhowa was brought to India in India in 2009 when P Chidambaram was the Home Minister.
The hardline faction led by Paresh Baruah is believed to be camping along the China-Myanmar border.
The hardline faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), led by Paresh Baruah, will not be part of the agreement as he has been consistently rejecting the olive branch offered by the government.
Two top leaders of the Rajkhowa group -- Anup Chetia and Sashdhar Choudhary -- were in the national capital last week and closeted with the government interlocutors to give final touches to the peace agreement, the sources said.
Those who have been talking to the ULFA faction from the government side include Director of the Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka and the government's advisor on the Northeast affairs A K Mishra.
The Rajkhowa-led ULFA faction had begun unconditional talks with the central government in 2011, despite strong opposition from hardline faction led by Paresh Baruah, who is believed to be residing at a place along the China-Myanmar border.
The ULFA was formed in 1979 with the demand for a 'sovereign Assam'. Since then, the outfit has been involved in subversive activities that led to the central government declaring it as a banned outfit in 1990.
The Rajkhowa faction joined peace talks with the government on September 3, 2011 after an agreement for Suspension of Operations (SoO) was signed between the ULFA, central and state governments.
Notably, writer Mamoni Raisom Goswami had initiated the talks in 2005. The ULFA leaders also met the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. However, Singh was assertive about one thing -- he told them he is a mere 'servant' of the Constitution. In other words, the demand for sovereignty was rejected. Nevertheless the ceasefire persisted.
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| Rajkhowa and other ULFA leaders met Chidambaram in 2011 |
"I think the ULFA talks have already lost the momentum. It was a government’s ploy to wear them down. The leadership also got stuck in their new means. In order to suppress the ULFA, the government was using all extra-constitutional and illegal methods and there was no rule of law.
The democratic institutions and methods were being sabotaged by the government and I thought that if ULFA was brought to the negotiating table this situation would end. It was also one of the objectives why I decided to help out and I think it partly happened. Otherwise, things would have gone much worse," commented intellectual Hiren Gohain in 2017 in an interview to 'The Wire'.
ULFA had established good operational links with Naga militants and also "trained guerilla warfare" to Tripura insurgents.
At one point of time the NSCN-IM writ ran along Naga hills, parts of Manipur and other Naga inhabited places. The NSCN (IM) and ULFA also started training insurgents in practically all other states in the region and also took 'insurgency' seeds to Tirap and Changlang hubs of once the 'peaceful state' Arunachal Pradesh.
"....every jawan is like a member of our family, but troops must avoid mistakes that may hurt countrymen", says Defence Minister Rajnath.
“I want to make a very special request to all of you that the responsibility of defending the country is on all of you, but along with the country’s security, winning the hearts of your countrymen is also a very big responsibility on your shoulders,” Defene Minister Rajnath Singh told the army officer and soldiers at Rajouri’s 25 division headquarters of the army.
Rajnath Singh meets families of civilians killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, accompanied by Army chief General Manoj Pande and Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, visited Rajouri district on Wednesday, Dec 27, afternoon. He also visited the Government Medical College (GMC) to enquire about the health of injured civilians.
“The defence minister met the families of the civilians, civil society and assured action against the guilty after an inquiry into the incident,” said former MLC Shahnaz Ganai, who was present in the meeting.
The Army has launched a probe into the civilian deaths. Army Chief General Manoj Pande also visited Poonch to review the on-ground situation in the area and chaired a security review meeting in the wake of deadly terror attack and related developments.
Three civilians were discovered dead under mysterious circumstances on December 22. This came a day after a deadly ambush by terrorists that claimed the lives of four Army jawans in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch.
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| Rajnath in Poonch |
Addressing troops during a visit to the sensitive Rajouri-Poonch region to review the security situation, the Defence Minister said he was confident that the Army will wipe out terrorism in J&K.
“I believe that our aim is to win the war and eliminate terrorists. But at the same time our bigger aim should be to win the hearts of our countrymen. A huge responsibility rests on the shoulders of all of you and I know you will fulfill it,” he said.
"....every jawan is like a member of our family, but troops must avoid mistakes that may hurt countrymen".
“The nation you are safeguarding, you should be firmly connected with the citizens of that nation. You have to win their confidence, increase understanding. You can play a great role in it, which you are already doing. But there is a need to do so more seriously,” he said.
The defence minister’s remarks are seen as 'unprecedented' in certain quarters as the killings could embarrass/irk the Muslim Gujjar community, which had played a key role in wiping out militancy from the area.
The local inhabitants last two decades provided the forces with key information and sometimes participated in the action.
The three dead men — Safeer Hussain, 37, Showkat Hussain, 26, and Shabir Ahmed, 32 — were Gujjars.
The BJP-led government has been trying hard to woo the Gujjars for general improvement of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Gujjar community forms about 8 per cent of Jammu and Kashmir’s population.
In a major decision a Brigadier-level officer was taken off duty and moved out of Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch as the Army launched an internal inquiry into the three civilian deaths reported in Poonch.
The terrorist attack on army vehicles in Poonch had killed four soldiers.
Army chief General Manoj Pande chaired an important security review meeting at White Knight Corps Headquarters in Jammu's Nagrota on Dec 25th, Monday.
He also visited the disturbed areas.
The People's Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), reportedly linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed, has claimed responsibility for the attack on jawans last week.
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