Guwahati: The pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) signed a tripartite Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) with the central and Assam governments in New Delhi in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Friday.
After nearly 12 years of negotiations, the 16-member ULFA (pro-talks) delegation led by its chairperson Arabinda Rajkhowa signed the agreement, with the government stating that it stands “committed to protecting the interests of the indigenous communities”.
Taking to social media platform X Friday evening, CM Sarma posted that the signing of the ULFA peace accord was a “historic day” and brought down curtains on the “oldest armed resistance” in the state.
Issuing a press statement Friday evening, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that about 10,000 people from both sides (insurgents, civilians and security forces) were killed in the ULFA conflict, but with the signing of the MoS, the “problem has been completely resolved”.
Calling it a “golden day” for Assam, Amit Shah said a time-bound programme will be made by the home ministry to fulfil the demands of ULFA and a committee will be formed to monitor it. Through agreed provisions, the government has also announced measures to safeguard and uphold the identity, culture and heritage of the indigenous communities of Assam.
Speaking to ThePrint, an expert called the development a move by the ruling party for electoral gains, and another “feather in the cap” for the current Narendra Modi-led BJP government.
Questions were also raised about how the agreement would impact the Paresh Baruah-led faction of ULFA-Independent (ULFA-I).
Baruah has been leading the ULFA(I) — the breakaway faction of secessionist ULFA since 2012 — when the parent organisation opted for talks with the central government without preconditions. He continues to maintain his stand of joining the table only when the issue of sovereignty for Assam is under discussion.
Baruah’s whereabouts are unknown, but experts believe he is in a Chinese region neighbouring the Myanmar border and controls the outfit from there.
ThePrint explains the history of the outfit and the relevance of the peace deal for Assam.
History of ULFA
The ULFA came into existence in the same churn of socio-political uprisings in the late 1970s and early 1980s that triggered the six-year Assam agitation (1979-1985) against immigrants.
It was formed by a small group of youths who believed in armed struggle and took a leaf out of the book of the Naga rebels.
While secession from India was ULFA’s declared goal, it has consistently stood against illegal immigration, which remains a hot-button issue in Assam to this day.
Over the years, many other issues found a place on its agenda, including the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), which gives Army personnel sweeping powers with respect to the use of force and making arrests to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”.
Currently, Tinsukia is among the eight districts in Assam considered “disturbed areas” under the AFSPA.
Why the delay in peace deal
According to Rajeev Bhattacharyya, author of ‘ULFA: The Mirage of Dawn’, which chronicles the covert history of the separatist organisation through investigative journalism, such agreements are always tied to the electoral gains of the ruling party.
“Until a day before, the government did not feel the need to do this. The important factor is the impending general elections after four months, which provides the right ambience for the agreement. The ruling party (BJP) will have to show its success with rebel outfits in the Northeast,” Bhattacharyya told ThePrint after the MoS was signed.
Under the agreement, the central government has assured Assam of projects and grants amounting to several thousand crores. This includes infrastructural plans under the departments of road transport and highways, railways, flood and soil erosion, petroleum and natural gas, wetland development, cottage industry and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), among others.
“Economic development is an ongoing process…The signed agreement would have had some impact if the ULFA leaders brought their former colleague Paresh Baruah to the negotiating table,” said Brigadier Ranjit Borthakur (Retired), who served extensively in counter-insurgency environment in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir.
Borthakur highlighted the question of how this will impact the Baruah faction. “Will it lead some cadres to surrender? Will Paresh Baruah realise the futility of the operation?”
“To my mind, he (Baruah) would have probably been aware of these developments. Politically, the present government will have another feather in the cap,” he told ThePrint.
Interestingly, speaking to this correspondent in April 2021 from an unknown number, Baruah was dismissive when asked about the possibility of returning to the mainstream.
“If I am a man without principles, I can think of giving up. Until death, I won’t sway from my principles. Armed struggle is different from non-violence. Subhas Chandra Bose did not choose to be Jawaharlal Nehru or Mahatma Gandhi,” Baruah had told ThePrint.
“Our revolution continues, and it’s uncertain… Until my death, I will carry on,” he had mentioned.
Speaking to ThePrint, a retired Army colonel from Assam, who did not wish to be named, termed the deal as an “agreement with a defanged tiger”.
“How far this agreement will be implemented, we will have to see. But ULFA as an organisation has lost all relevance in Assam, whether ULFA(I) or ULFA (pro-talks),” he said.
“Paresh Baruah is trying to stay relevant by occasional grenade attacks, extortion and recruitment. They are now a hyped social media group. Do the people of Assam want to traverse that path again, is the question? I feel they have had enough of militancy and terrorism. No sane Assamese youth is going to join them,” the veteran added.
Also Read: After 64 days in jail for ‘ULFA’ poem, Assam teen back home. No chargesheet, parents in debt
Peace process after split in ULFA
The Memorandum of Settlement with the ULFA was achieved by a compromise made more than a decade ago, when the group led by Rajkhowa signed a tripartite agreement for Suspension of Operations (SoO) with the central and the Assam governments in September 2011.
The ULFA was formed in 1979, but the group remained inactive until the mid-1980s. Its activities picked up after the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985 amid skepticism about the constitutional safeguards it promised the Assamese.
Baruah was part of the second wave of ULFA leaders along with Arabinda Rajkhowa (Rajib Rajkonwar), Anup Chetia (Golap Baruah), and a few others from Nalbari who took over the mantle of the group after the initial leadership was either caught by the police or came overground.
The rebel group had clearly partitioned political and military wings — Baruah led the military wing as commander-in-chief, and Rajkhowa headed the political unit.
In February 2011, ULFA leaders led by its vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi announced that the outfit’s general council decided to sit for talks with the central government without preconditions. However, the Baruah-led group described the general council as unconstitutional, thereby negating the deal.
A formal split between the factions took place in August 2012 when Baruah expelled Rajkhowa and appointed Abhijit Barman as the outfit’s chairman.
Consequently, two factions emerged — an anti-talks faction led by Baruah that has remained opposed to dialogue without the issue of “sovereignty” being discussed, and the pro-talks faction under Rajkhowa that was in favour of talks with the government.
The faction led by Baruah renamed itself ULFA (I) in April 2013.
The ULFA has been accused of unleashing a wave of violence in the northeastern state, including abductions of businessmen for ransom and killing of government officials, besides disruption of communications and attacks on economic targets.
The killings and illegal activities escalated in 1990, but declined after the Army was deployed — even as sporadic attacks continued.
The peak period for the outfit was 1987-90. In November 1990, Assam was brought under the President’s rule, and the ULFA was banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The Baruah-led faction continued to serve notices to business houses and companies, including tea plantations, on creating jobs for indigenous Assamese youths.
ULFA(I) vs Assam Police
Earlier this month, the ULFA (I) made news for triggering a series of low-intensity explosions in the Upper Assam districts of Tinsukia, Sivasagar and Jorhat.
The group has issued warnings to senior officers of Assam Police and their families for allegedly inflicting torture on Assamese youths in the name of interrogation and staging “fake encounters”.
On 27 December, CM Sarma ordered a high-level inquiry into the alleged suicide of 24-year-old Dipankar Gogoi from Titabor town in Jorhat district, suspected to be associated with the ULFA(I). He was picked up by the police for questioning in connection with the grenade explosion near the army camp in Jorhat on 14 December and later found hanging from a tree.
Police claimed that he had earlier joined ULFA(I) for a brief period and was still in touch with some of its members, but Gogoi’s family denied charges and accused the security forces of physical harassment leading to their child dying by suicide, according to a PTI report.
On 28 December, DGP Singh stated on X that the Assam Police remains steadfast in its resolve to protect the people of the state from all violent crimes at all personal and professional costs.
“We resolve to keep the Assam Police flag flying high,” he posted.
In an excellent operation lasting weeks, the three crimes of grenade lobbing by a banned organisation in Tinsukia, Sivasagar and Jorhat have been cracked and perpetrators arrested and motorcycles used recovered. People instigating these perpetrators through online platforms have…
— GP Singh (@gpsinghips) December 28, 2023
In December last year, ThePrint carried out a ground assessment on why recruitment continues in ULFA(I) despite the outfit being weakened, left with drying funds and no longer commanding the same hold over the region as it did in the 1990s.
Among the youth, disillusionment with a broken system is rife. Teenagers and young men who joined the outfit blame government inaction, corruption and lack of opportunities for choosing the other side, ThePrint reported.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
Also Read: ULFA(I) abduction of Quippo staff ‘desperate’ yet dark reminder of Assam’s insurgency past