Centre willing to salvage ULFA talks

Sources said the government might decide to talk to a smaller group as a mediator instead of the existing PCG that comprises 11 persons.

Efforts put in for almost a year to bring the outlawed organisation for talks collapsed last September with the government ordering the resumption of counter-insurgency operations in Assam. Operations by security forces were halted a day before Independence Day in the hope that the outfit was serious and that it would soon accept the preconditions put forth by the Centre.

The government wanted the ULFA to despatch a formal communique stating its willingness to talk, the composition of the delegation and the date on which the team was likely to arrive in New Delhi. The ULFA on the other hand has alleged that the government went back on its commitment to release the five senior activists lodged in various Assam jails whose presence is deemed necessary for a meeting which will pass a resolution favouring the peace process.