NE Watch Desk
Assam has ushered into the new era of
peace as the United Liberation Front of Asom or ULFA pro-talks faction signed a
peace pact with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Centre and the Assam Government
on Friday.
The historic deal was done in the
presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam Chief Minister Himanta
Biswa Sarma.
The ULFA faction has formally consented to
shun the path of violence, facilitating retreat of hundreds of its cadres, who
had gone astray, to the mainstream society with this Memorandum of Settlement.
After the pact was signed, Shah
expressed joy over the new development and termed it as “a bright day for the
future of Assam”.
“For a long time”, he shared, “Assam and
Northeast” as a whole “faced violence and after Narendra Modi ji became PM in
2014, efforts were made to narrow down the gap between Delhi and Northeast”.
Dubbing the moment as a historic day for
Assam, CM Himanta shared, “During PM Modi’s regime, under the guidance of Union
Home Minister Amit Shah, constant work and efforts were on for Assam’s peace…
Three accords have already been inked. With three accords, in Assam, tribal
militancy has come to an end.”
WATCH Assam CM Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma Addressing Journalists
https://x.com/CMOfficeAssam/status/1740722793325715734?s=20
For over 12 long years, the Centre had
been holding unconditional negotiations with the group led by Arabinda Rajkhowa
for bringing a complete closure to the decades old insurgency.
The Central Government is close to achieve
the goal. However, ULFA’s hardline section headed by Paresh Baruah is proving
to be hindrance by not being part of the peace pact.
As per information and reports, Paresh Baruah
has been camping near the China-Myanmar border. Few days ago, CM Himanta had said that if Paresh Baruah comes back everything will be sort out.
In 1979, a new group came up with its
demand for a “Sovereign Assam”. This group known as ULFA was outlawed by the Indian
Government in 1990 for resorting to subversive and violent activities.
On September 3 in 2011, the Rajkhowa group
joined peace dialogue with the government. Prior to that, the faction had inked
Suspension of Operations or SoO agreement with the Central and State
governments.
