Will jailed ULFA leaders be released on parole?

GUWAHATI - The Assam government is seriously contemplating granting parole to at least eight top jailed separatist leaders of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to facilitate peace talks, but New Delhi is apprehensive the rebel leaders might jump parole and go underground, an official said.

“There has been some thinking to free the jailed ULFA leaders to pave the way for peace talks. But various intelligence agencies are worried that once released, the militant leaders might go back to the jungles,” a senior Assam government official said requesting not to be named.

Almost the entire top brass of the ULFA is now in jail - ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, vice chairman Pradeep Gogoi, deputy commader-in-chief Raju Baruah, self-styled foreign secretary Sasha Chouhdury, finance secretary Chitraban Hazarika, publicity chief Mithinga Daimary, cultural secretary Pranati Deka, and the senior-most 70-year-old leader Bhimkanta Buragohain.

Buragohain is presently lodged at the Tezpur jail in northern Assam, while the other seven rebel leaders are at the Guwahati Central Jail.

The only top leader of the ULFA still at large is commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah, while the outfit’s general secretary Anup Chetia is in Bangladesh following his arrest in 1997.

The jailed ULFA leaders, including its chairman Rajkhowa, have been repeatedly saying that they were ready for talks but not under handcuffs - meaning they want them to be released.

“I don’t think the ULFA leaders would betray the popular sentiment of the people of Assam for peace talks. I don’t think they would jump parole and escape,” Lachit Bordoloi, a rights leader, told IANS.

Bordoloi is also a member of the ULFA constituted People’s Consultative Group (PCG) formed in 2005 to explore possibilities of opening peace talks with New Delhi.

The apprehension of the intelligence agencies that the ULFA leaders might jump parole is not without substance.

In January 1992, the first round of preliminary talks with a five-member ULFA delegation comprising ‘general secretary’ Anup Chetia and ‘central committee’ members Robin Neog, Kamal Bora, Siddhartha Phukan and Sabhan Saikia was held with then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in New Delhi.

All the five leaders were granted safe passage to attend the meeting and then allowed to leave to convince their other top leaders for the peace talks.

But the delegation led by Anup Chetia jumped parole never to return.

“The circumstances in 1991 were quite different from 2010, and now the general mood is for peace and I am confident the ULFA leaders would not escape,” Bordoloi said.

Moreover, with the wives and children of the top jailed leaders now back in their homes, there is a feeling that chances of jumping parole was minimal.

“These are things that we have also taken into consideration while mooting the idea of freeing the jailed ULFA leaders. But the ball is in New Delhi’s court,” the official said.

The idea of engaging the jailed ULFA leaders is primarily aimed at marginalising the elusive Paresh Baruah and making him redundant in the peace process.

“Whether Paresh Baruah comes for peace talks or not is irrelevant if all the top leaders agree for negotiations. We want Paresh Baruah to come and join the peace process, but talks can be held without him as well,” Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.