Pradip Gogoi, the vice-chairman of the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom, was released from Guwahati Central Jail on Thursday after completing an 18-year term behind bars, since his arrest in Kolkata in 1998.
The militant leader had been granted conditional bail by the designated Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act court in Guwahati on February 23 in all the cases pending against him. He was released from jail today evening after the completion of formalities related to his bail bond.
The militant leader said the outfit 'in principle' wanted a negotiated and peaceful solution to the 30-year-old 'India-Assam' conflict and expressed hope that the government will show sincerity in this regard.
He also demanded the unconditional release of all other top leaders of the outfit, who are now lodged in jail, including chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, for the sake of finding a 'political solution to the conflict'.
"We want the government to accord equal importance for upholding the rights of all the communities in the state while solving the conflict," Gogoi told newsmen immediately after his release.
"I will now go to the people of Assam to seek their support in our effort to find a political solution to the conflict and pay tribute to the thousands of members of the outfit who had sacrificed their lives while fighting for the cause championed by the ULFA," he said.
He was the second top-rung leader of the banned outfit, after central publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary, to be released on bail after the Assam government decided not to contest their bail petitions, apparently to send a positive signal to the outfit over the government's sincerity to hold a meaningful dialogue with it.
The ULFA vice-chairman will proceed to his native village at Mahutgaon in Sivasagar district on Friday after spending the night in Guwahati at the residence of his counsel. A large number of people waited outside Guwahati jail today evening to greet the ULFA leader.
The TADA court, while granting bail, asked the two ULFA leaders to deposit their passports and present two sureties of Rs one lakh in each of the cases. The court also asked them not to leave the country without the permission of the court and appear before it whenever summoned to do so.
