United Liberation Front of Asom 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa on Tuesday said he went to Pakistan when operation Bajrang was launched in Assam in 1990 but denied the group was backed by Islamic fundamentalists of that country.
Having prepared its charter of demands, the pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam is now ready for talks. They now await a formal invitation to the first round of talks with the government of India.
The chairman of the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom Arabinda Rajkhowa on Tuesday said that the outfit was hopeful that the assurance of an 'honourable negotiated solution' to all the burning problems of Assam as given by 'the leadership of the world's largest democracy to the people of a strife-torn Assam ' would be kept in true spirit.
A delegation of United Liberation Front of Asom leaders, led by its 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, days after the group sat for unconditional talks with the government.
For the first time in its 31-year-long struggle, the banned United Liberation Front od Asom will hold face-to-face unconditional talks with the Centre tomorrow in an attempt to usher in peace in insurgency-hit Assam. An eight-member ULFA delegation led by its 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa will meet Union Home Secretary G K Pillai.
The vertical split in the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom has come to the fore raising questions about the fate of the nascent peace process with the Government of India.
Top United Liberation Front of Asom leaders met at a 'secret' location in Assam to discuss the holding of an executive meeting prior to the proposed peace talks with the government but the group's elusive 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Baruah vowed to continue the struggle.
Two top United Liberation Front of Asom leaders -- 'foreign secretary' Sasha Choudhury and 'finance secretary' Chitraban Hazarika -- were granted bail on Monday by a special TADA court paving the way for their release.
The Central government-appointed interlocutor for facilitating peace talks with the banned United Liberation Front of Assam P C Haldar, the former chief of the Intelligence Bureau, arrived in Guwahati for a three-day visit on Wednesday.
Following a meeting of the group's leaders, a spokesman of the outfit informed that it was unanimously decided in the meeting, which was attended by all the top leaders of the pro-talks faction, that no leader or cadre of the outfit get involved with the forthcoming assembly election in the state and the message has been sent to all the members of the outfit through 'proper channels'.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday informed the state assembly that the arrested chairman of United Liberation Front of Asom Arabinda Rajkhowa and foreign secretary Sashadhar Choudhury had been in Bangladesh since 1990, while finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika and deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah shifted to Bangladesh on a later date.
Interacting with a group of Assamese students studying in the national capital, ULFA 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa said the existing political setup poses a threat to Assam and its people that led to the formation of the group and its 31 years of insurgency movement.
Leaders of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom on Thursday met Home Minister P Chidambaram as they began face-to-face unconditional talks with the Centre in an attempt to usher in peace in insurgency-hit Assam.
Revealing the stand of the outfit in the aftermath of the arrest of most of its top leaders in the past few months, spokesperson Mithinga Daimary also said that given the (changed) political situation in the region and the world, sticking to the armed struggle could prove suicidal.
The ULFA on Wednesday said there was no immediate possibility of holding talks with the government as the atmosphere was "not conducive".
United Liberation Front of Asom chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa on Sunday said his outfit was ready to sit for peace talks without any preconditions for an "honourable" solution to relieve the people of Assam of their suffering.
The ULFA chairman filed the bail petitions following release of five senior ULFA leaders on bail from jail in the last six months that has raised hopes for beginning of a dialogue with the outfit.
The banned Assam-based militant outfit ULFA on Wednesday rejected Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's offer for peace talks echoing their chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa's stand "no peace talks with ULFA leaders in jail".
Assam government on Monday announced that the wives and children of arrested United Liberation Front of Asom leaders chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah, foreign secretary Sasadhar Choudhury were under police security and would be released soon as there was no case registered against the spouses; although they were members of the women wing of the outfit.
ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and others have been produced before the Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Guwahati amid heavy security.
The Centre is treading cautiously on holding deliberations with the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom as it does not want to repeat the 1992 experience when five leaders of the rebel group released for talks availed the opportunity to go underground.
Against the backdrop of reports of surrender of ULFA chief Arabinda Rajkhowa, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said the media was creating confusion by "speculative" reporting.
"I cannot confirm or deny the news." That is how Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi reacted to United Liberation Front of Assam chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa's arrest news amid emerging contradicting reports.
Taking a step forward to hold a dialogue with the Government of India, the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has sent a letter to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi expressing his outfit's desire to hold unconditional peace talks.
After undergoing a routine medical check up at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital, Rajkhowa told media person, "The overall situation is now conducive for talks and we appeal to both India and Bangladesh to facilitate the participation of Chetia in the talks by releasing him from captivity."
United Liberation Front of Asom chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who was arrested over two months ago, on Saturday said his outfit was not keen on peace talks but wanted to resolve long-drawn contentious political issues through negotiations. "I do not want peace talks, but want talks to resolve the problems facing the state," Rajkhowa said. "People will not be kept in the dark on the issue of talks and they will be the first to be taken into confidence," he said.
Security concerns prompted the authorities to hold a camp court inside the Central jail in Guwahati on Thursday afternoon for production of arrested United Liberation Front of Assam Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Raju Barauh and Rajkhowa's body guard Raja Bora.
The government on Wednesday said the United Liberation Front of Asom's top leader Arabinda Rajkhowa was "apprehended" by the Border Security Force on the Meghalaya-Bangladesh border and later arrested by the Assam police as he was wanted in connection with several cases
The fugitive commander-in-chief of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam Paresh Baruah has claimed "moral victory" after the outfit's chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and military spokesman Raju Baruah said they had not surrendered and there was no possibility of talks with "colonial Indian government" if the issue of "freedom and sovereignty of Assam" is not on the agenda.
The location of United Liberation Front of Asom chief Arabinda Rajkhowa and the outfit's military deputy-in-chief Raju Barua besides eight others apprehended by the Assam police is being kept a closely guarded secret.
The Border Security Force said on Friday that top United Liberation Front of Asom leader Arabinda Rajkhowa, another key militant and their families surrendered at the Dawki border outpost in Meghalaya early on Friday morning.
In a statement issued to the media in Guwahati, chairman of the banned ULFA, Arabinda Rakhowa said: 'A baseless and misleading rumour has been spread among the people of Assam about holding of dialogue among the ULFA, colonial Indian government and the Assam government. We hereby appeal to the people of Assam not to get confused by this rumour till we clarify our stand on holding of such dialogue.'
The Border Security Force has handed over the two top leaders of the United Liberation Front of Assam, who were picked up from the Indo-Bangla border in Tripura, to the Assam police, which has begun interrogating them.
Opening up borders between India and countries like Bangladesh can make the North-East region the fulcrum of India's 'Look East' policy.
"We haven't surrendered and will not surrender," that is what ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and deputy commander in chief Raju Baruah shouted in response to questions thrown at them by mediapersons waiting in the court chief judicial magistrate in Guwahati on Saturday evening.
Following the arrest of the United Liberation Front of Asom chief Arabinda Rajkhowa and nine others on Friday, two senior ULFA cadres who were trained in Myanmar surrendered to the Indian Army on Saturday at Thakurbari in Tezpur in north Assam.
Self-styled chairman of the rebel United Liberation Front of Asom Arabinda Rajkhowa and ten other ULFA cadres, who were handed over to India by Bangladesh on Friday, will be produced in a court in Guwahati on Saturday afternoon and could be charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the stringent Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.
The chief of the United Liberation Front of Asom Arabinda Rajkhowa was handed over to the Border Security Force by Bangladeshi security agencies at an outpost along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya early on Friday morning, official sources said.
ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa on Thursday claimed that reports of his "arrest" were aimed at creating confusion and "derailing" the peace process in Assam.
In a major setback to the United Liberation Front of Asom, its top leader Arabinda Rajkhowa has been detained in Bangladesh and is likely to be handed over to India soon.
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