Is it safe to dance with the ULFA?

Gone are the days when people would keep indoors and hold their silence on the ULFA

The suspension of army operations is a major step by the government of India in Assam. It conveys to the banned United Liberation Front of Asom ULFA that New Delhi is serious about the business of peaceful negotiations. The offer comes at a time when the ULFA was targeting both common people as well as security personnel. It was only on Friday evening that five Assam Police commandos were killed near Digboi in Upper Assam.

But any optimism must be tempered by lessons from history. This is not the first time in the 26 years since the ULFA unleashed insurgency in Assam that a peace offer has been made by withdrawing the army. Hiteswar Saikia did it once, way back on January 14, 1992 by suspending Operation Rhino after he managed to take a group of five senior ULFA leaders led by general secretary Anup Chetia and the then central publicity secretary Siddhartha Phukan to then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. But that initiative did not yield the desired results: while Anup Chetia soon slipped out to Bangladesh, Phukan led a number of boys to surrender, only to create a new group of hooligans who are still known as SULFA 8216;S8217; stands for 8216;surrendered8217;.

Much water has flowed down the mighty Brahmaputra, the river Bhupen Hazarika described as one that flows shamelessly and mutely while the people suffer. Though there is no official count, over 6,000 people may have lost their lives in Assam since the emergence of the ULFA in 1979, of whom about 3,000 would be innocent civilians who had nothing to do either with the ULFA8217;s struggle for a 8216;sovereign8217; Assam or the government8217;s carrot-and-stick policy, which has wasted several valuable years due to political considerations. The 8216;secret killings8217; allegedly carried out, Punjab style, by targeting family members of top ULFA leaders too failed. They only pushed dozens of families into disaster and traumatised hundreds of others. Several hundred young boys, who would have otherwise made wonderful officers in the Indian Army, have died untimely deaths for the sake of an armed struggle that has led Assam nowhere.

The economy and industry of Assam have been major casualties of the conflict, so also the rate of overall development. There was a time when the massive flight of capital from Assam saw the rapid expansion of Siliguri in neighbouring North Bengal, while big business houses including Williamson 038; Magor and Tata Tea bought peace by meeting demands of the rebels, from arranging for medical treatment to handing over cash. Assam8217;s per capita income remains much below the national average, while the overall human development index limps behind the known backward states like Bihar and Orissa.

Sunday8217;s suspension of army operations, which is only for about ten days, has evoked some response from the ULFA. Significantly, the outfit remained silent on August 14 and 15; this Independence Day was the most peaceful in Assam in two decades. ULFA8217;s vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi, currently lodged in Guwahati Central Jail along with 72 members of his outfit, has described the Centre8217;s move as a welcome gesture and announced that they the ULFA leaders would not betray the people once they were released.

Civil society in Assam has also become bolder than before. Gone are the days when people would keep indoors and hold their silence on the ULFA. People now organise protests every time innocent persons are killed. The Dhemaji blast of August 15, 2004 was a turning point; 10 schoolchildren were killed.

The ULFA has been pressing their demand of discussing sovereignty with New Delhi. While earlier governments had rejected this demand without a second thought, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his first meeting with the ULFA-nominated People8217;s Consultative Group PCG on October last year said that he was prepared to discuss any issue across the table. 8220;Why take up guns when the prime minister is from your own state?8217;8217; Singh asked in November 2004 in Guwahati. The ULFA-nominated PCG too has expressed high hopes that every issue can be sorted out through talks. But the ball is now in the ULFA8217;s court.