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Assam rebels in India threaten to intensify armed conflict

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Guwahati, Aug 2, IRNA
Assam-India
An influential separatist group in India's restive northeastern state of Assam Tuesday threatened to step up its offensive if New Delhi failed to respond to the group's offer for peace talks.

"We cannot just sit tight with the hope of getting a positive response from the Indian government for holding peace talks. We will be intensifying our armed struggle," Arabinda Rajkhowa, chairman of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), said in a statement.

The ULFA is an outlawed rebel army fighting for an independent Assamese homeland since 1979.

There were a series of formal letters exchanged between the ULFA and the Indian government since January to work out modalities for holding peace talks to bring an end to a violent 26-year-old insurgency in Assam.

The ULFA chairman in early July sent a letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offering to hold talks if the government agrees to discuss the outfit's core demand of "sovereignty" or independence.

The ULFA's letter was in response to a formal invitation for talks by Singh in May.

"There was lot of urgency shown by the government to get a formal letter from us for holding talks. But once we delivered the letter, the authorities have shown no urgency and that probably reflects the doubtful and insincere attitude in holding negotiations with us," the ULFA chairman said.

"We are ready for a mutually acceptable solution."
Noted Assamese writer Indira Goswami, also sought by the ULFA to mediate for talks with New Delhi, said the federal authorities need to grab the opportunity for negotiations.

"The Indian government should not try and delay the peace process or else it would be too late," Goswami told IRNA.

The warning by the ULFA to step up its offensive is being viewed by security forces very seriously as the outfit is known to target vital installations in the run up to India's Independence Day on August 15.

Last year, the ULFA triggered a powerful blast during an Independence Day parade in eastern Assam that killed at least 20 people, most of them students taking part in the parade.

"We wish there is some breakthrough before the Independence Day or else we are worried with intelligence reports indicating of massive plans by the ULFA to create terror ahead of August 15," a senior Assam police official said requesting anonymity.

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

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