ULFA submits demands list to Centre

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi,the Centres interlocutor for Assam P C Haldar,and other senior officials were also present at the meeting.

Taking another step towards initiating a formal peace dialogue with the Centre,United Liberation Front of Assam ULFA Friday submitted a charter of demands to the Home Ministry and sought an amendment to the Constitution to safeguard the interests of indigenous peoples of Assam.

A seven-member delegation of ULFA a banned militant organisation that has been waging an armed battle for a sovereign Assam - met Home Minister P Chidambaram to submit the charter,seeking constitutional and political arrangements and reforms,including protection of the identity and material resources of the indigenous populations of Assam.

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi,the Centres interlocutor for Assam P C Haldar,and other senior officials were also present at the meeting.

On its part,the Centre appreciated ULFAs efforts to initiate the peace process and assured the delegation that all its concerns would be satisfactorily resolved within the framework of the Constitution.

Chidambaram told the ULFA leaders that their efforts to maintain peace in the state would lead to quicker socio-economic development of the people of Assam.

Talking to reporters later,the ULFA delegation reiterated its demand for an amendment in the Constitution,but did not specify what exactly it wanted changed. ULFA foreign secretary Shashadhar Choudhury said Assams original inhabitants had been reduced to a minority because of illegal immigration from Bangladesh and the governments at the Centre and the state would need to come up with special safeguards to protect rights of indigenous peoples.

The delegation,significantly,parried a question on the demand for sovereignty for Assam,like it had done after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram in February this year. It only said that ULFA wanted an honourable and meaningful solution in favour of Assamese people.

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Choudhury said ULFA was likely to have another meeting with the government after August 15. The Home Ministry said in a statement that a formal Suspension of Operations agreement with ULFA would be signed in Guwahati very shortly. The delegation was also assured by Home Secretary R K Singh that a formal peace dialogue would begin soon.