Talks plan ready,govt may not wait for Barua

Govt is not likely to waste time waiting for ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Barua to start talks with the outfit.

The government is not likely to waste time waiting for ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Barua to start talks with the outfit.

Making this clear,Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said here on Tuesday that the Home Ministry had almost finalised a strategy and would soon submit it to the Union Home Minister and Assam Chief Minister for final clearance.

We are working on a strategy for talks with the ULFA after holding discussions with the Chief Secretary,the DGP of Assam and other officials. Once completed,this strategy will be placed before the Union Home Minister and the Assam Chief Minister. They will discuss it and give a final approval, Pillai said. He was here to attend a meeting of the North Eastern Council NEC.

Pillai also said that the government was not making any effort to contact Paresh Barua,the only top leader of the ULFA currently not in custody. We are also placing some options before the Union Home Minister and the Assam Chief Minister in this regard, he said,clearly indicating that the ULFA talks would be held even without its armed wing chief.

Paresh Barua keeps travelling to Kunming in China and was currently somewhere in the Kachin-China border inside Myanmar,the Home Secretary said. He Barua visits Kunming primarily for shelter and also to get arms and ammunition, Pillai said.

Pillai also said that coordinated operations would start soon on the Indo-Myanmar border to flush out Indian insurgent groups from the neighbouring country. I was in Myanmar last month and we had useful and positive discussions there, he said.

ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia,who has completed a 10-year term in Bangladesh after being arrested in 1996,was also likely to be brought to India soon,Pillai said. India and Bangladesh have already signed an agreement for transfer of sentenced persons. Chetia will shortly come from Bangladesh to India, he said.

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Meanwhile,Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the government would give full dignity and honour to the ULFA leaders once they agreed for talks. I agree nobody can sit for talks with handcuffs on. But once they agree to talk,the government will ensure they come in full dignity and honour, Gogoi said.

Gogoi also said there was no use waiting for Paresh Barua to come for talks. We cant wait indefinitely for Paresh Barua. He has a lot of business interests and is also into gun-running. I dont see much possibility of Barua coming forward for talks, the Chief Minister said.