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Journalism of Courage
GUWAHATI, April 30: A citizens8217; meeting convened by an all-party committee of Assam here, today urged the government and the militant groups to immediately announce a ceasefire and begin the negotiation process, while State Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta declared that this government would ensure safe passage to the rebel leaders during such a process.
The citizens8217; meeting, which went on for more than six hours, also appealed to the government not to indulge in any controversy over the agenda, venue and date for ceasefire talks and said the government should listen to all the demands raised by the rebel groups as a first step towards solving the tangle. The meeting, with as many as ten resolutions, also put on record that Army deployment or political negotiations could not, however, solve the burning problem of insurgency. It called for an integrated package covering all the seven states of the northeast for a lasting solution.
8220;Both sides government and the rebel groups should immediatelyannounce a ceasefire for a specific period with proper ground rules, so that the problem could be solved once and for all,8221; one of the resolutions said.
Presided over by the Chief Minister, the meeting was attended by leaders and representatives of all the major political parties, apart from a large cross-section of people including social workers, freedom fighters, writers, intellectuals, newspaper editors, lawyers and retired bureaucrats and administrators. An appeal was also made to all to cooperate with the government in its efforts to create a healthy situation conducive for bringing back peace. Besides, appealing to the rebel groups to stop all kinds of violent activities including killings.
In his speech, Mahanta, apart from assuring safe passage to the rebel leaders, clarified that his government was against causing any split in the insurgent groups 8220;because that will not solve the problem fully8221;.
8220;Some people who have met the top ULFA leaders have told me that the group was willing totalk barring three or four leaders. But I do not want any split in the group. All of them should be represented,8221; Mahanta revealed.
The Chief Minister also complained that some quarters were opposed to holding talks and solving the insurgency problem.
Bangla agrees to extradite Chetia
The Bangladesh government has agreed to extradite ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia, who is currently lodged in a Dhaka jail, Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said here on Thursday.
Mahanta asked the people to carry out a self-introspection on the issue and find out how much fault also lay with the people themselves for allowing a section of the youths of the State go astray and take up arms for what he termed as a wrong cause. He said that insurgency was not a problem which has cropped up within a few years. 8220;It has long history, and had led to the division of Assam into so many states in the past,8221; he said.
