Ever since they were released on bail by a TADA court in February, ULFA leaders Mr Pradeep Gogoi and Mr Mithinga Daimary have been touring Assam and interacting with a cross-section of people on the question of a peace accord and the modalities and terms of peace negotiations. The people they met are understood to have spoken positively and emphatically on the need for a permanent peace and an end of violence to quicken the pace of development. They also wanted ULFA not to make the sovereignty demand an obstacle to talks.

Earlier this month, twenty eminent intellectuals of the State issued an appeal urging ULFA to resile from the sovereignty demand and requesting the Government to release all the ULFA leaders who are still in jail. The also urged both sides to start talks without any precondition. As a follow up step, they have now decided to hold a State-wide People's Convention at Guwahati on April 24 to discuss how the talks can be taken forward.

An eleven-member preparatory committee has been formed for the purpose. The members are all non-political personalities and include men like Dr Hiren Gohain; Mr Hare Krishna Deka, a retired DGP of Assam and an Akademi prize-winning poet; Dr Indira Goswami, the noted litterateur; and Mr Hiranya Bhattacharya, another retired DIG of police. Some of the other members are known to be quite sympathetic to ULFA.

In a statement, the committee members said: “None among us support the secession of Assam from India. Yet, sovereignty can exist even without secession.” They, however, did not elaborate on the last point and explain how a State of the Indian Union can be a “sovereign” State within sovereign India.

The weight of so many respected and influential personalities behind the peace move has made it difficult for those who are determined to carry on the armed struggle at any cost, regardless of its long-term consequences on the people and the State of Assam, to come out openly and oppose it. Rumours are rife at Guwahati that pressure is being sought to be applied from “outside” to frighten the peace activists into abandoning the peace initiative. This is not likely to succeed.

The Naga peace talks have, for all practical purposes, been stalemated. Unlike the ULFA leaders of Assam, the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN is insisting on Naga sovereignty, knowing fully well that whichever political party may be in power in Delhi, no Central Government can ever accept this demand. Their other demand is to integrate all the Naga people living in the neighbouring States of Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam to be integrated into a single Naga State or a Greater Nagalim. No other State is prepared even to hear such a demand, not to speak of conceding it.

Speaking territorially, the NSCN(I-M) is claiming the Ukhrul, Senapapti, Chandel and Tamenglong districts of Manipur, Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh, large parts of Mikir Hills and North Cachar Hills Districts and some parts of Golaghat, Sivasagar and Jorhat disrticts of Assam.

The NSCN(I-M) leaders also seem to have failed to realize the inherent contradiction between their two demands. If the present Nagaland State is allowed to secede from India and become a sovereign country, then the Nagas cannot claim any other territory of India. On the other hand, if a greater Nagalim has to be carved out of the territories of some other States, then secession becomes out of the question, because other States will not allow any part of their territory to go out of India.

It may be recalled that since its “cease-fire agreement” with the Centre came into force in 1997, the NSCN has been demanding that it be extended to all Naga-inhabited areas of the region. During the NDA rule, Mr L. K. Advani as Home Minister once made the supreme mistake of acceding to the importunities of the rebel leaders. The case-fire agreement was extended to other Naga areas of the neighbouring States. That was in June, 2001.

Immediately, the Imphal Valley of Manipur, dominated by the Manipuris or Meiteis, went up in flames, literally. In capital Imphal, the Assembly building, the Speaker's bungalow, the Chief Minister's secretariat and offices of political parties were torched. The Chief Minister's official residence was about to be torched when the police opened fire. Thirteen people including five teenagers were killed in firing. This scribe was an eyewitness to those days of mass fury. Mr L. K. Advani hastily retreated from his unwise steps and declared a status quo ante on the applicability of the ceasefire. Only then did peace return to Manipur. No Government would like to repeat that folly. (IPA)