Himanta extends peace offer to ULFA hardline faction

Final touches are being given to a peace agreement with the ULFA’s pro-talks group and it is likely to be signed this month or in January, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday and also extended offer of talks to the outifit’s hardline faction.

Talking to reporters here after holding talks with Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director Tapan Deka and National Investigation Agency (NIA) Director Dinkar Gupta, Sarma said they discussed security-related matters.

The NIA director briefed the chief minister about the Rohingya infiltration issue in which Assam had registered a case and raids were carried out by the agency in as many as 44 places across the Northeast.

Chief Minister Sarma said the Centre and the state government are pursuing talks with the Paresh Baruah-led ULFA(I) (the hardline faction) seriously, while final touches are being given to the peace agreement with the pro-talks ULFA faction led by Aranbinda Rajkhowa and this is likely to be signed this month or in January.

He said the peace agreement with the pro-talks ULFA group will incorporate political, economic and



cultural safeguards as well as land rights.

Extending an olive branch to the Baruah-led faction, the chief minister said violence will impede growth and development, and it is in the greater interest of the state and its people that ULFA(I) come to an amicable settlement once and for all. “Violence is futile and will push the clock of development back. It will vitiate the atmosphere at a time when Assam is on a roll with investments pouring into the state,” he said.

The meeting between Sarma and the directors of the IB and the NIA took place at the Assam House here and it lasted for more than an hour.

Former IB special director A K Mishra, who is presently the advisor to the government on Northeast affairs, also met the chief minister.

Sarma said during his five-day visit to the national capital, he called on the president, the vice president, the prime minister, the Union home minister twice, the Union finance minister, the Union petroleum and natural gas minister, the Union coal and mines minister and the Union health minister.