The violence and killings triggered off by several bomb blasts in Assam recently does not augur well for peace and development not only for Assam but also for the northeast region as a whole. Such kind of incidents targeting innocent people deserves to be condemned in the strongest terms. The ULFA in particular is slowly losing support of its own people by indulging in such terror activities and the public protests being reported across the State should be a timely reminder for the ULFA to seriously ponder over the method that it is adopting to lend credence to its political cause. The targeting of Hindi speaking migrants and the means adopted by it to achieve this end is dangerous that will have serious repercussion for peaceful co-existence of the different communities in the State. The ULFA should stop playing such dangerous games of ethnic purging and instead re-direct its political energy into restarting the peace process with the aim of resolving all outstanding issues with New Delhi through the only sensible means of dialogue and mutual understanding.
For the Government of India, if it is sincere enough then it should work out a road map for peace in the northeast. And for this it would have to engage the people through a dialogue process, listening to their grievances and being accommodative to what they have to say. It is quite unfortunate that the present UPA Government has yet to work out afresh the road map to establish durable peace in the region. So far its effort is on fire fighting. Instead of assuming that a military solution is achievable, which is not, the government of India must try and help open doors—to genuine dialogue. Whether it is the ULFA or the Army establishment, a military-centric approach will not serve any purpose and will only further alienate people.
As far as the struggling peace process in Assam is concerned, the Government of India will be well advised to recall its ill fated decision to hand over the peace process with the ULFA to the Home Ministry and instead reinstate the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for all future negotiations, at least until a formal ceasefire is arrived with the ULFA. In future, the Home Ministry should be allowed in only after all the ground modalities have been worked out under the PMO. There is greater chance of peace initiatives surviving under this process. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a political representative of the Assamese people also has a moral responsibility to take political initiative in the matter and urgently push for resumption of the peace process. And to expedite this, the UPA government should not play a wait and watch game any more but rather take the plunge to facilitate genuine talks. The ULFA on its part must denounce violence.
