Assam CM plays down Ulfa threat

A recent diktat by Ulfa to target Congressmen in Assam would not hamper the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) nor would it deter the government from its stand of negotiating with militant groups, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said today.

"We are still of the firm belief that other insurgent groups including the Ulfa should come to the negotiating table to solve their problems," he said here, seeking to play down the threat by the militant outfit.

Ulfa had recently threatened to attack Congress leaders in retaliation to the killing of its five cadres in an encounter in Lakhi-mpur. He welcomed the stand taken by Gyanpith award winner Indira R Goswami to bring Ulfa to the negotiating table.

To facilitate the talks process, the government had in fact "slowed down" operations against the NDFB, he said. He gave a clean chit to BC Narah who was accused by the Opposition AGP of having links with Ulfa and a hand behind the independence day bomb blast in Dhemaji where several school children were killed.

"Just by giving mobile phones (AGP accused Narah of giving mobile numbers to ULFA cadres for contacts) if the ULFA can be tamed, then they (AGP) are living in fool's paradise," Gogoi said.

"The opposition is giving conflicting statements on the issue. Sometimes they are saying an ULFA cadre had come for surrendering to Narah and sometimes they alleged he had links with them for perpetrating violence," he said.

Meanwhile, AGP MLA Dilip Kumar Saikia, who represents Dhemaji constituency, has written letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Leader of the Opposition LK Advani to look into the charges of Gogoi government's links with insurgent outfits.

"An impartial commission of inquiry should be set up so that guilty persons are booked. The probe by the Assam police will be biased," Saikia said in the letter which was circulated to the media here.

Citing a confessional statement made to the police by a woman Ulfa cadre Dipanjalee Gohain, Saikia alleged that she and other militants revealed their links with Narah, who had gifted mobile sets and money to them.

"When the barbaric blasts took place at Dhemaji and at Narah's constituency Dhokua-kana, the minister chose not to meet the affected people and was sitting in his room at Lakhimpur circuit house," he said.

Narah denied the charge and claimed that his name was dragged as Saikia wanted to shift his constituency to Dhokuakana and had levelled the allegation to tarnish his image. Gogoi said AGP had two full terms in power in the state and BJP ruled for almost six years in the Centre but wanted to raise the issue only at the fag end of their term.

"This only shows that these parties wanted to keep the matter of IMDT alive and make it a political issue . The Act has been in vogue since 1985 and it was not the Congress government that had introduced it. So why this hue and cry?," he asked.

Gogoi said his government had time and again approached the Centre to take steps to check infiltration by building electric fences along the border with Bangladesh as in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.

"I do admit there is infiltration, but certainly not in a very large scale as Assam's population growth rate is low in comparison to other states," he said.

The AASU has threatened to vehemently oppose the prime minister's visit and disrupt his programme after the Centre's decision to retain the Act 'to appease the migrants and protect their vote bank.'