New Delhi: After nearly 12 years of negotiations, the Union government, the Assam government and a pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) — a militant group that fought for Assam’s independence for decades — signed a historic peace deal in Delhi Friday.
The tripartite Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) agreement will mark the end of the armed struggle of the ULFA faction led by Arabinda Rajkhowa and Anup Chetia — who are the chairman and general secretary of the group, respectively — said the leadership group of ULFA after the accord was signed. As part of the agreement, this faction of ULFA will be disbanded within a month.
The signed agreement is yet to be made public by any of the parties, but ThePrint has seen a copy of the memorandum of settlement that contains 12 main points that were agreed upon by all parties.
The 12 points of the agreement included political demands, ST status for communities, reservation in education and employment, NRC/illegal immigration, land and forest, identity, culture and heritage, tea gardens, rehabilitation and resettlement of armed cadres of the outfit, special development package and planned development in the state.
The last point of agreement was on the constitution of a “joint monitoring committee”, which will comprise representatives from ULFA, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the chief secretary or director general of police of Assam to monitor the implementation of the agreement signed Friday.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and other dignitaries during the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA)’s pro-talks faction’s signing of a tripartite Memorandum of Settlement with the Centre and the Assam government, in New Delhi on Friday | ANI
After signing the agreement, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that with this peace accord, the total number of militants to have surrendered in Assam will go to 8,250.
He emphasised that incidents of violence, deaths and kidnappings in the state have gone down significantly by 87 percent, 90 percent and 84 percent, respectively, after the Narendra Modi-led government assumed office in 2014.
“Nearly 10,000 people of India have been killed due to conflict arising out of ULFA insurgency in Assam, but today the problem is being completely solved. Government of India has agreed to provide a huge package and several big projects for all-round development of Assam and the Modi government will comply with all provisions of the agreement,” Shah said in his address post agreement.
He added: “With this tripartite agreement, we have been successful in closing the issue of armed groups in Assam.”
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said 10,000 people including civilians, security personnel and ULFA cadre had been killed since the violence began in Assam after the group took up arms.
He said there were people in the state who were not aware of the reasons behind the killings of their family members. Neither the people nor their families knew why they were being killed, he added.
ULFA’s foreign secretary Shashadhar Choudhary and Chetia addressed a press conference minutes after leaving the home ministry where they recalled the history of their armed rebellion and the path to this accord.
Choudhary said that the ULFA leaders thought that giving up their arms and negotiating with the government for settlement was the only option left with all top leaders in the prison.
He stressed that Chetia himself was “languishing” in a Bangladesh prison before the Government of India brought him back based on an extradition treaty between the two countries and released him as part of fulfilling the promises made during the start of the negotiations.
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History of ULFA
ULFA is a banned militant outfit that has its roots in massive protests in Assam in the wake of an influx of migrants from Bangladesh before and right after the creation of that country in 1971.
While the violent protests died down after the Assam Accord was signed on 15 August 1985, outfits such as ULFA, which believed that Assam was never a part of India, carried on to the path of militancy and continued with violence — vowing an independent state.
Since the negotiations for the accord began in 2011, there has been a vertical split in ULFA leadership with Paresh Baruah refusing to concede grounds on the issue of a separate state and forming ULFA (Independent), while the faction that signed the accord continued talks with the Assam and Union governments over 12 years.
Baruah is currently believed to be sheltered by China in border areas of Myanmar.
Agreement on delimitation
One of the most important points that all three parties agreed on was the rights and demography of the indigenous people of the state. Choudhary said that the parties agreed to hold the next delimitation in the state with the same “directive principles” with which the last exercise was carried out.
The latest delimitation was carried out earlier this year, and although opposition party Congress had raised objections to the exercise saying that it targeted the areas and constituencies won by them, Choudhary threw his organisation’s weight behind the process saying that it was the only viable mechanism to give and retain rights of indigenous people.
He said that after the latest delimitation, 94 out of 126 seats in the state assembly have emerged where indigenous people are in overwhelming majority, and during elections, both the candidates and voters will be “original people” of Assam, irrespective of who political parties decide to field.
ThePrint has seen a copy of the signed memorandum of settlement between the three parties and there has been agreement between the parties on continuing the broad guidelines and methodology adopted by the Election Commission of India while conducting the 2023 delimitation for the next delimitation process, whenever it will be carried out in the state.
This methodology included parameters such as the rate of growth of the population, the density of the population, principles of the historicity of areas and communities, geographical continuity, physical features, facilities of communication and public convenience.
The memorandum of settlement document also said that an agreement has been reached with the central and the state governments to treat foreigners — after a “corrected and error-free” National Register for Citizens — based on the laws of India, while not taking any action till the Supreme Court, which is hearing the argument in this case, gives its verdict.
Other points related to the rights of the people of Assam were “stringent verification of voter registration process to prevent foreigners/illegal migrants from getting registered as voters”, “border security and strengthening of border police as a second line of defence to prevent further illegal influx” and “setting up of land bank from encroachment free land and allotment to landless indigenous community,” according to a brief note of the agreement signed shared by the ULFA to media.
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Land issues and development projects
Another major issue that the parties agreed upon was the issue of land in the state. The outfit said in the press note that the agreement has been reached on the “digitisation of land records”, “legalisation for conclusive land title”, “protection of agricultural land” and “prevention of encroachment in government land/forests”.
The outfit said that it projected all-round development of Assam in the next five years, especially in the areas of education, railways, flood and soil erosion. The government agreed that the issues of flood and soil erosion in the state would be dealt with as a “national priority”, it added.
The agreement also includes assurances by the Union government to take up over 60 developmental projects in the state, which would require investment to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore over the next five years.
The outfit said that it also pitched for a “special development package” worth Rs 5,000 crore that would see the set up of an Indian Institute of Management campus in Guwahati, School of Planning and Architecture, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) and a railway equipment manufacturing plant — which were agreed upon by both the Union and state governments.
Baruah’s stance remains unclear
Both Choudhary and Chetia were asked by reporters about their expectations from their erstwhile colleague, Paresh Baruah, who according to media reports, is hiding in China’s Yunnan province. But they avoided the questions if they expected him to come back to India and join the pro-talks rank.
Choudhary said that he expects Baruah to support the peace accord based on what he knows of him but avoided the question if he expects him to join him and other members to surrender before the government.
Chetia told ThePrint that “successful implementation” of the agreed points by the government both at the central and state levels may influence and convince members of Baruah’s faction of ULFA to give up arms and surrender.
However, he ruled out the merger of Baruah’s faction into his faction even if they gave up arms and signed a peace deal with the government. “They will sign a separate agreement with the government, which will have no relations and implications for our faction and agreement,” Chetia added.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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