Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday asserted that peace talks with the ULFA held a “good future” and downplayed the threats to the Congress issued by the outfit’s Paresh Barua faction ahead of Assam Assembly polls.
“Both the government and the ULFA are committed to take the peace process forward and the process is on to bring other underground outfits of the North East to the negotiating table,” Dr. Singh said in a brief interaction with journalists at the Circuit House.
The Prime Minister said that his meeting with the ULFA leadership, led by its Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, in New Delhi “had a very good beginning and its future will also be good.”
Asked about Saturday’s threat to the Congress by the anti-talk Paresh Barua faction, the Prime Minister said that those who are “now issuing such threats are away from India and are not aware of the ground realities.”
“If they have given threats, necessary steps and precautions will be taken by the agencies concerned but I don’t think they will carry it out,” he said.
Accusing the Congress of attempting to create a division within the outfit, the Paresh Barua faction has threatened to launch an “armed struggle” and called for a boycott of meetings by party leaders.
The Prime Minister said that ULFA Chairman had assured him that there would be no such incidents or disturbances during the assembly elections due in May.
He said peace had returned to the state and Assam had developed economically due to several flagship schemes initiated by his government.
Referring to the Assam Gas Cracker Project in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district, Dr. Singh said that it would go a long way in solving the unemployment problem in the State.
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