New Delhi: After 30 years of violent insurgency in Assam, eight top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) have started historic peace talks with the Indian government last week.
The leaders came to New Delhi to start the peace process. ULFA's de facto spokesperson and foreign secretary Sashadhar Chowdhury, in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, makes his demands clear - Assam to get special status like Kashmir and no Bodoland.
The peace talks have now started but there are reasons to believe that there will be no meaningful talks till the upcoming assembly polls are held in Assam. Also, the ULFA leader denied links to Pakistan's ISI and Bangladesh's military intelligence, DGFI and the Chinese government.
Excerpts from the interview:
Sumon K Chakrabarti: No sovereignty will be there in your demands and you've agreed to talk to the Indian Government without any pre-conditions. People are asking if there are no pre-conditions then what do you expect out of these talks?
Sashadhar Chowdhury: ULFA will seek for a paradigm shift in the social, political and economic system of Assam for the dignity, honour and pride of the people of Assam.
Sumon K Chakrabarti: What kind of paradigm shift are you talking about?
Sashadhar Chowdhury: The Indian Constitution has to be overhauled vis-a-vis Assam. There are so many demands that will be put up though agendas. But that will take 2-3 months. But basic demand will be to overhaul the constitution because that is the sovereign instrument with which a country is governed.
Sumon K Chakrabarti: What is it that you will give to the people of Assam?
Sashadhar Chowdhury: What we will give (after peace talks) to people of Assam will ensure that no one goes back to the jungle again, take up arms again, start a fresh insurgency.
Sumon K Chakrabarti: So clearly you have two major points on your agenda. You want a change in the constitution of India and you don't want the Assamese youth to take guns in their hands and go back to the jungles to fight another insurgency.
Sashadhar Chowdhury: We will ensure that we Assamese should come to Delhi on our own terms, not like how we have come or how our people have been coming since 1947.
Sumon K Chakrabarti: But then Mr Chowdhury there are so many other ethnic groups, insurgent groups in Assam who are fighting for their own independent ethnic land. You might be the largest insurgent groups but then there are the Bodos who are saying that peace in Assam cannot be achieved just by talking to the ULFA.
Sashadhar Chowdhury: Ethnic reconciliation in Assam and the problems arising out of it can be tackled by an overhaul of the constitution of India. This can be a panacea of social and economical problems.
Sumon K Chakrabarti: Clearly you're saying you don't want the Bodoland. You want the Bodos, the Assamese and other ethnic groups to stay together in Assam?
Sashadhar Chowdhury: We don't want a separate Bodoland. We have a history of living together for 5000 years. We have to stay together. Every ethnic group should stay together in Assam with own equal rights, and preservation of their own socio cultural ethics and language.
Sumon K Chakrabarti: So when can expect substantial talks to begin?
Sashadhar Chowdhury: Substantial peace talks with New Delhi will only begin after the upcoming Assembly elections in Assam.
Sumon K Chakrabarti: In the neighbouring Nagaland we have seen that the talks with the NSCN-IM (National Socialist Council of Nagaland, Isak-Muivah faction) have been going on for a long time and yet there is no solution to the Nagaland problem. Would you keep a timeframe to solve the problem of Assam?
Sashadhar Chowdhury: We want a fixed timeframe. We have told Home Minister P Chidambaram that we need a specific timeframe to reach a solution.
Sumon K Chakrabarti: What happens to Paresh Barua, ULFA's Commander-in-chief? He was the man who called the shots for such a long time and all of you were under his command. He has rejected the talks. What's his status within ULFA right now? Will you take any action against him?
Sashadhar Chowdhury: It is a mandate of the general council of ULFA which is a supreme body. It's a clear mandate with an overwhelming majority that we should talk to the Government of India without any pre-conditions and get a solution to this conflict through political means. So ULFA is bound to talk. We have sent all our resolutions to him (Paresh Barua). It will take some days to reach his camp. Everything will depend on his official remark. Till now, someone else is reacting on his behalf.
Sumon K Chakrabarti: His spokesperson is saying that the talks should be rejected. So will ULFA chairman Mr Arabinda Rajkhowa be given the powers to take a decision on Paresh Barua?
Sashadhar Chowdhury: When Paresh Barua's official remark reaches our Chairman (Arabinda Rajkhowa), he will take a decision on him. I am not the appropriate person to comment on this.
Sumon K Chakrabarti: One final question, you have stayed all these years in foreign countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar? Which are the foreign intelligence agencies which supported your cause? Who trained you? Was it Pakistan or China or both?
Sashadhar Chowdhury: No foreign agency trained us. We were trained by the Nagas and Kachins and we also trained ourselves.
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