Assam:
It's official. The government has offered peace talks and safe passage to the top rung of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).
The offers come a day after ULFA's Chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa, was found along the Triupara border by the Bangaldesh government. Rajkhowa was handed over to the Indian government and was later flown to Delhi on Tuesday night in a special plane. He now becomes a key player in any discussions for peace.
That's rattled ULFA's military chief, Paresh Barua, who is underground in Myanmar. He has asked the group's militant cadres in Assam to unleash violence using bomb blasts. Barua's calls to his cadres were intercepted on Tuesday by intelligence officials.
Gogoi said that peace talks should be held even without Baruah. However, he clarified that all negotiations are being supervised by the Home Ministry.
Baruah's call for violence in the midst of all this is, according to experts, his way of retaliating to his increasing isolation within the ULFA. Over recent months, several senior ULFA members have been arrested. Growing differences between Baruah and Rajkhowa have left the group without clear direction.
Whether Rajkhowa surrendered or was arrested remains a matter of confusion. Speaking to NE TV on Tuesday, after his detentions, Rajkhowa said people who claim he was arrested "are trying to derail the peace process even before it can begin. Such people do not want the peace process to succeed."
(Watch: Arabinda Rajkhowa denies being arrested)In Parliament on Tuesday, the Home Minister said that if ULFA is ready for talks, the government will accept the offer, but the militants "will first have to abjure violence."
Seventeen years, and almost 15,000 deaths later it's a chance that no one wants to let go off.
But there's still no clarity on how the peace talks will play itself out. Even the chief minister says he knows little about the goings on. So, what will the ULFA be offered? Who made this breakthrough or is it too early to expect ULFA to lay down arms?
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, whereabouts not known
- 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