Bodos threatens to withdraw ceasefire

He accused the Centre of breaching this trust and warned "BLT might be compelled to withdraw the ceasefire and take follow-up action."

The issue should not be dismissed as one of no consequence, he said and criticised Union Home Minister L K Advani for rejecting outright in Parliament recently the Bodoland demand.

He also accused the Centre of according low priority to "genuine demands and aspirations of the various ethnic groups of the North-Eastern region."

Meanwhile, the United Liberation Tigers of Assam (ULFA) top echelon is preventing its cadres from responding to Assam government’s offer of 10 days safe passage to ultras beginning Tuesday to visit their families, Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said.

"Though the lower and middle level cadres are willing to accept the government’s offer at the dawn of the new millennium….. the ULFA top leaders’ opposition is hampering their response," he told newsmen here last night.

However, a large number of rebels are keeping close contact with local police stations and subdivisional police officers in order to visit their homes, he said and hoped that the lower and middle rank activists would take advantage of the government offer.

The district and subdivision administrations, he said, had been instructed to provide full security to the rebels responding to the safe passage offer.

Assam Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha had on October 30 announced a seven-day safe passage to ULFA chairman Arobinda Rajkhowa, its commander-in-chief Paresh Barua and cadres on humanitarian ground.

This was followed by a similar offer to the outfit and other underground organisations by the chief minister on the floor of the Assembly on November 5.

But ULFA had rejected both offers.