Pact with govt to benefit Assam, says ULFA faction

New Delhi: Confirming that the process of negotiations between the government representatives and the leadership of the pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-P) has almost reached its logical conclusion, Arabinda Rajkhowa, ULFA (P) chairperson, has said that the agreed terms will ensure that the rights of the indigenous people of Assam will be safeguarded and their future will be secure.

“The terms on which both the government and the ULFA have agreed will surely ensure that the future of the indigenous people of Assam is safe and secure and will not be under threat,” Rajkhowa, aka Rajib Rajkonwar, told this newspaper on the phone from Guwahati.

“After long years of negotiations with the government, together we have listed out the agenda items we have agreed upon. The next step is to put them in a draft, finalise it and then append our signatures. So the process is nearly complete,” he said, adding that he only hoped that the pact is signed at the earliest.

The ULFA leader said that during the negotiations process, the biggest challenge was in trying to frame the political and constitutional safeguards for the indigenous people.

In April, Kiren Rijiju, Union minister of state for home, had also said that the negotiations with the ULFA were in the “final stages” and that the government had “agreed in principle” to the demands of the ULFA (P). “The demands of pro-talks ULFA are genuine,” the minister had said.

Anup Chetia, aka Golap Barua, ULFA (P) general secretary, also told this newspaper on the phone: “Most of the agenda items have been agreed upon while certain matters like the citizenship issue are sub-judice with the Supreme Court’s decision expected shortly. Our stand is that foreigners are foreigners be they Hindus or Muslims.”