In what has given a sense of relief to security agencies, Ulfa general secretary Anup Chetia has been given the responsibility by the rebel group of leading the peace talks with the Government of India in place of its chairman Arbinda Rajkhowa.
Mr Chetia, who was arrested in Dhaka in December 1997, had since then been in Bangladeshi jails after he was held guilty of illegally entering that country and for illegal possession of foreign currency. Mr Chetia was deported to India recently from Bangladesh, where he had sought political asylum.
The decision to lead the Ulfa talks was taken formally at a central committee meeting attended by Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, vice-chairman Pradeep Gogoi, deputy commander-in-chief Raju Barua, foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury, finance secretary Chitraban Hazarika, and several other leaders, including Mrinal Hazarika, Jiten Dutta and Pranjit Saikia.
While the outfit has denied that this decision will in effect marginalise the Ulfa chairman, who was leading the talks so far, security sources claimed Mr Chetia’s elevation to lead the peace talks might subside the simmering dissent within the pro-talk faction of Ulfa to a large extent.
Noting that some hardcore Ulfa cadres were not happy at the way day-to-day affairs were being handled by the Ulfa leadership, security sources said the situation had come to a stage that some were thinking of joining the anti-talk Ulfa faction led by commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah.
Referring to intelligence inputs, security sources said that some Ulfa pro-talk faction cadres had established contacts with the anti-talks faction with a view to joining them.
Saying that an Ulfa delegation will also meet the families of martyrs, Mr Chetia has expressed happiness at this development, and said issues like granting of Scheduled Tribe status to six indigenous communities of Assam also featured at the central committee meeting. He told reporters he would soon meet with organisations of the indigenous communities of the state to seek their suggestions.
