Assam continues to edge its way towards a peace process. Another senior leader of ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) is now in Indian custody.
Raju Barua, ULFA's Deputy Commander-in -Chief, was handed over to India at the Dawki outpost in Meghalaya. Also handed over to India on Friday: the wife and children of Arabinda Rajkhowa, the Chairman of ULFA, who has been in Indian custody since Wednesday.
Rajkhowa and his family and Raju Baruah are likely to be produced in a Guwahati court later today.
Whether Rajkhowa, one of India's most-wanted militants, surrendered or was arrested, is still unclear.
Sources say Rajkhowa is talking extensively to intelligence officials about how negotiations will pan out. Rajkhowa will not be charged with heinous crimes. Along with his associates, he will be given "safe passage." Rajkhowa is also keen to negotiate only with the Centre. On Thursday, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi offered peace talks to ULFA, but clarified that the entire process will be handled by the Central government.
While most senior leaders of ULFA have now either surrendered or been arrested, the Military Chairman, Paresh Baruah, remains missing. He's believed to be in Myanmar. In recent phone calls to his cadres in Assam, Baruah ordered violence and bomb blasts to derail any peace talks. Baruah's strategy, though expected, has Assam on high-alert and the Centre worried about a violent backlash to its negotiations with Rajkhowa and his associates.
ULFA: The men who call the shots
- Command-in-chief of ULFA, Paresh Barua, reported to have fled Bangladesh
- Deputy Commander-in-Chief Raju Barua, surrenders, handed over to India
- Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, arrested by Bangladesh, in India's custody now
- ULFA 'foreign secretary' Sasha Choudhury, arrested in Bangladesh, in India's custody now
- ULFA 'finance secretary' Chitraban Hazarika, arrested in Bangladesh, in India's custody now
- Advisor Bhimkanta Buragohain & Vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi in custody
- Central publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary & cultural secretary Pranati Deka in custody
- Other senior leaders Bening Rabha, Ashanta Bagh Phukan, Ponaram Dihingiya of military wing missing since 2003