Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday called upon the fugitive commander in chief of the United Liberation Front of Asom Paresh Baruah to come out of the clutches of the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence and other forces inimical to India and hold talks with the government of India instead of engineering killings of innocent people in Assam.
Gogoi termed it as cowardice on part of the ULFA to kill innocent people in the state as it was no longer capable of taking on the security forces that are breathing down its neck.
He said altogether seven persons were killed and 90 others injured in Assam in ULFA-orchestrated retaliatory violence in Assam since June 26, the day the 'A' and 'C' companies of the 28th battalion of the ULFA declared unilateral truce.
Talking to the newsmen in Guwahati, Gogoi said, "I don't know how the ULFA is going to achieve its goal of restoration of sovereignty in of Assam by killing innocent people who have been made soft targets. There is no question of holding talks with the ULFA on its demand for sovereignty which is not negotiable."
"The ULFA is definitely not serving the interests of the people of Assam by killing innocent people. It is obvious that it is rather serving interest of foreign forces, including the Pakistani ISI inimical to India. Its top leaders are staying in Bangladesh, enjoying the patronage of anti-Indian forces," Gogoi commented calling upon civil society groups in the state to mount pressure on the ULFA to stop killings and come forward for talks with the government.
However, the Assam government doesn't recognise the People's Consultative Group, which was nominated by the ULFA, as a civil society group.
"The PCG is not a civil society group as it obeys diktat from ULFA," Gogoi said.
The Assam government on Monday informed that 13,000 ULFA militants have surrendered in Assam since 1991, which left the outfit with only about 1,500 cadres in its ranks as on date.
The 'A' and 'C' companies of the 28th battalion of the outfit have total 350 cadres who have agreed to unilateral ceasefire.
Gogoi informed there were 300 ULFA cadres based in the outfit's bases in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
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