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New Delhi, Assam tribal leaders hold peace talks

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Guwahati, India, May 26, IRNA
India-Assam-Talks
Indian authorities and leaders of a tribal separatist group in the northeastern state of Assam are meeting for peace talks Saturday aimed at ending two decades of violent insurgency in the region.

An Indian home ministry official said talks between the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and government peace negotiators would be held in New Delhi.

"This is going to be the first round of formal peace talks with the NDFB leadership and the government is taking the meeting very seriously", the official told IRNA by telephone from New Delhi requesting not to be named.

The NDFB is a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland for the Bodo tribe since 1986.

The Indian government and the NDFB signed a one-year ceasefire pact in May last year aimed at ending two-decades of violence in Assam that left thousands dead. The ceasefire expires next Wednesday.

"This is a positive development and we expect the talks take place in a cordial manner so that the two sides could hold threadbare discussions on various issues", Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi told IRNA.

NDFB general secretary Gobinda Basumatary and four other senior rebel leaders would take part in the talks.

"We are going with a positive frame of mind. The first thing now is to extend the ceasefire and work out modalities for taking the peace process forward", a senior NDFB leader who wished not be identified said.

Among other things, the rebel leadership would submit a list of demands on which they want the talks to be held.

"The demand for an independent Bodo homeland is definitely on our demand list", the NDFB leader said.

The Bodos, a primitive tribe who are mostly either Hindus or Christians, account for about 10 percent of Assam's 26 million people and live in the western and northern parts of the state.

Under the ceasefire agreement, the NDFB cadres were lodged in government run camps until a final settlement was reached with the rebels.

Talks between Indian government peace negotiators and
representatives of the state's other frontline rebel group, the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), have already begun with two rounds of negotiations having taken place.

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam during the past two decades.

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