The Isolated Hardliner

There is a strong belief in Assam that any talks held minus Barua would not help find lasting peace. But two things have now become clear almost simultaneously. One,Barua does not appear inclined to find a solution other than sticking to his (and the ULFAs) original demand. And two,neither the government nor the ULFA chairman wants to wait for Barua.

This move to keep Barua out,or to go ahead even if he does not turn up,in fact dates back to late 2009 when Rajkhowa was apprehended in Bangladesh and handed over to India. Immediately after that,Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had said that though the door for talks was kept open,he did not believe in waiting endlessly for Barua. Two months later,Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said the government was keen to start the peace talks even with Barua.

It is important that Barua should be made part of the peace talks, says Indira Goswami,Jnanpith Award winner and former Delhi University professor,who played the key role in bringing the ULFA and the government closer. It was because of the Prime Ministers letter expressing the governments willingness to discuss the core issues that Barua constituted the Peoples Consultative Group in 2005, Goswami points out.

Goswami is,in fact,among a select few in Assam who continue to get frequent phone calls from Paresh Barua. He spoke to me three days in a row last week. But he has never given any indication that he would stand in the way of the peace talks, she says,adding the government should not give up on its efforts to bring Barua to the peace process.

Yet,not once has Rajkhowa even uttered Baruas name since his release from jail on January 1. Instead,he has asked New Delhi to extradite general secretary Anup Chetia,lodged in a Bangladesh jail for more than a decade.

On Monday,one group of ULFA militants,comprising three important armed wing leaders Mrinal Hazarika,Jiten Dutta and Prabal Neog also joined the campaign to isolate Barua. This group had announced a unilateral ceasefire and its members have been in two designated camps since 2008.

Paresh Barua has violated the constitution of the ULFA and has hence attracted disciplinary action. There is no place for a show of strength in guerilla warfare. But Barua has repeatedly tried to show strength especially after the top leadership has expressed a desire to join the peace process, says Mrinal Hazarika,spokesman for the pro-talks ULFA faction.

This faction also accuses Barua of repeatedly throwing spanners into every peace move made by the ULFA. Barua has been standing in the way of the peace negotiations since the first time such a move was made in 1991. Today,when the people of Assam are talking about the peace process,Barua is out to scuttle it again, Hazarika says.

Though the government,at the political level,wants to isolate Barua,the Army and intelligence agencies still believe that the elusive leader has more control over ULFA militants than Rajkhowa,who heads the political wing. Barua is a dangerous person. Most of the militants remain under his control. It is he who controls the extortion rackets in Upper Assam and supplies arms to various rebel groups in the region, said a senior Army officer who wished not to be named.