Rajkhowa made it clear that he is really interested in a genuine peace and a negotiated settlement of the problem. “We are not going to disturb the process of talks”, he said categorically. Without naming his “commander-in-chief” Paresh Baruah who is still bent on continuing the armed struggle for a sovereign Assam from his hideout somewhere in Myanmar, Rajkhowa did not mince his words when he said that a “section of opportunists” were bent on derailing the peace process and obstructing the attempts for a peaceful solution through dialogue.

The ULFA’s general-secretary Anup Chetia who was arrested in Dhaka in 1997 and has been in prison since then, is likely to be handed over to India by the Bangladesh authorities in a few weeks’ time. One of the seniormost leaders of the ULFA, along with “foreign secretary” Sasadhar Choudhury, ”finance secretary” Chitrabon Hazarika and deputy C-in-C Raju Barua, Chetia’s participation in the talks with the Government is considered essential. Also, it is believed that if Paresh Baruah ultimately chooses to opt out of the peace talks with his small band of followers, Chetia can play a significant role in further isolating him.

Those who met Rajkhowa and his colleagues got the distinct impression that the rebel leaders had realized the futility of armed struggle. Almost all the top leaders of the outfit have been arrested in the last one year. Commanders of some of the armed battallions like the 109th and 709th along with their men under arms are near Assam-Bangladesh and Assam-Nagaland borders. They may cross over any day and lay down their arms to join the peace process. A severely isolated Paresh Baruah is believed to be now left only with the 28th battalion.

However, it needs to be mentioned that this dramatic change in the ULFA’s willingness to give up arms and sue for peace may not have come if the Awami League Government led by Sheikh Hasina had not come to power in Bangladesh in December, 2008. It is no secret that the previous BNP Government led by Khaleda Zia had not only given shelter to the ULFA leaders but also helped them in many other ways. With the coming back of the Awami League government, all that changed. The ULFA leaders and their men were denied shelter, arrested and most of them handed over to India.

On the one hand, the ULFA lost its operational base, and on the other the people of Assam were getting disgusted with the decades of violence – a violence that was leading nowhere. They longed for peace. The ULFA leadership, living in voluntary exile, was also aware of the change in the mass mood. The combination of these two factors made the ULFA leaders rethink their strategy and perhaps also their goal which seemed unrealizable.

The ban on ULFA, however, has not been lifted. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has said it would be there because some of the outfit’s leaders, including Paresh Baruah, are still not interested in peace. The security forces will continue their operations against those that carry on militant activity. Though he is averse to tagging the peace talks with the coming Assembly elections in April, Gogoi knows it well that the opening of formal peace talks with the ULFA in the next two or three months will be a crowning achievement for him and immensely brighten the Congress prospects in the polls.

To facilitate the peace talks, the State Government did not oppose the bail applications of the arrested leaders in the TADA court. Rajkhowa had earlier said that unless all the leaders were freed it would not be possible for them to hold a General Council meeting to formulate their stand on the talks with the Government. Now that this demand has been met, the General Council is likely to meet shortly in the historic Rang Ghar in Sivasagar district. The only absentee will be Paresh Baruah, the self-styled “C-in-C” of the outfit. Incidentally, the Rang Ghar has a sentimental attachment for the ULFA leaders, especially Rajkhowa, because it was here that the ULFA was born on April 7, 1979. (IPA Service)