 "Give Chetia opportunity to play role in ongoing peace talks with ULFA: Gogoi")
Chetia, who was lodged in Bangladesh prison since 1997, was extradited to India on November 11. He is presently in the custody of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and would be brought to Assam under transit remand in connection to a murder case lodged in 1988.
It is still unclear if or when the ULFA leader would be handed over to Assam police.
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With Chetia withdrawing his asylum seeking application in Bangladesh, which paved the way for his extradition to India, the indications are he too is willing to be part of the peace process.
Many of Chetia’s past colleagues, headed by the outfits ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa, are presently engaged in ‘peace talks’ with the Centre. Rajkhowa, along with few other senior members of ULFA including Sasha Chowdhury, Chitrabon Hazarika, Raju Barua, were arrested in Bangladesh and handed over to India in 2009.
After getting bail in cases they were tried for, all these leaders transformed into peaceniks almost overnight.
There is also another section of ULFA under the leadership of Mrinal Hazarika that had previously surrendered and presently staying at designated camps, which too is part of the ‘peace talks’.
Since the majority of the outfit’s leaders joined the ‘peace process’, Paresh Baruah renamed the outfit that was under his command as ULFA (Independent).
Baruah is now the only top ULFA leader who is still at large and opposed to the ongoing ‘talks’.
“Government of India should give Anup Chetia adequate opportunity to play an important role in the peace talks between government and pro-talk faction of the ULFA,” said Tarun Gogoi, Assam’s chief minister. He added that Chetia’s extradition would have a “positive impact” on the ongoing ‘peace talks’.
Chetia’s extradition came at an opportune time for the Centre as it wants to expedite the ‘peace talks’ and wind up everything possibly before assembly polls in Assam, which are due around April next year.
The BJP has high stakes in Assam election and inking a peace deal the ULFA could help the party gain popularity before the polls.
Probably that might had been a reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally took interest in extraditing the ULFA leader from Bangladesh and later thanked his Bangladeshi counterpart Begum Sheikh Hasina for the neighbouring country’s gesture.
With polls in mind, the Congress doesn’t want to let the BJP take away all the credit. “The Assam government has long been demanding for extradition of Anup Chetia for a fruitful peace talks,” said Gogoi.