JOIN USThere is welcome progress in the talks between the Centre and the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom), which have been going on for over two years. The sixth round of the talks were held in Delhi last week and there are reports that both sides are moving close to an agreement.
The moderate faction of the ULFA, led by its president Arabinda Rajkhova, has been holding talks with the government after it entered into an agreement for suspension of hostile operations against each other. A larger contingent of the ULFA team took part in the latest round of talks. The home secretary, who represented the Centre, disclosed after the talks that the two sides were trying to finalise a working draft. ULFA representatives also expressed similar optimism.
The main obstacle to reaching an agreement, or even to holding talks, with the ULFA was its insistence on ‘’sovereignty’’ for Assam. Since this demand has been abandoned it is not very difficult to discuss other demands and find common ground on them. The ULFA still wants the Constitution to be amended to guarantee protection of the rights and identity of the indigenous people of Assam. This may not pose a problem. Issues like illegal migration, land rights, updating of the national register of citizens and the granting of scheduled tribe status for some sections have been addressed in the talks. Some of these are covered by the Assam accord of 1985. Many of the present grievances have arisen from the poor implementation of the accord.
The ULFA representatives are keen that a final agreement is worked out before the Lok Sabha elections next year. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from the state, and chief minister Tarun Gogoi have taken special interest in the talks.
There is a view that the peace process may receive a setback if there is political uncertainty after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Therefore, it is necessary to expedite them. The present official-level talks should address the outstanding issues and upgraded to the political level at the earliest. It is likely that the ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia, who is in a Bangladesh jail, will be repatriated to India soon. There is hope that he can be prevailed upon to join the talks. If that happens, it will give a boost to the process and make the prospective agreement more widely acceptable.