CALCUTTA, 3 January 2005 — Peace talks between United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and New Delhi are unlikely to begin in the near future because the control of ULFA has passed into the hands of a powerful foreign agency, a top Indian military commander said yesterday.
“ULFA is finding it difficult to come to the negotiating table because it is now under the influence of a foreign agency which doesn’t want peace in India’s remote northeastern region,” Gen. J.S. Verma, GOC in C, Eastern Command, revealed yesterday in his farewell press conference.
Addressing newsmen at Fort William, headquarters of Eastern Command in Calcutta, before handing over charge to Lt. Gen. Arvind Sharma, Verma also disclosed that a joint Indo-Myanmar operation recently launched against ULFA and other rebel groups has not been as successful as expected.
He also admitted that diversion of Indian troops from the troubled northeast to the India-Pakistan border for Operation Parakaram — the long military standoff with Pakistan after the December 2001 attack on India’s Parliament - helped northeastern rebels, particularly Manipur militants, fighting for independence. Verma claimed that besides the role of the foreign agency in stalling talks with the Indian government, sharp divisions within ULFA on several key issues have become a stumbling block in the path to peace. Significantly, the general refused to identify the foreign agency despite persistent questioning by journalists.
According to him, public opinion in Assam has turned against ULFA but the foreign agency which has taken control of the separatist outfit is prodding it not to give up violence or negotiate with New Delhi. Verma confirmed the launch of a joint Indo-Myanmar military operation to flush out Indian rebels from the jungles of the neighboring country but added that “Myanmar had not deployed sufficient troops achieve our objectives”.
“It’s a long border and the terrain is difficult. The Myanmar Army has not pressed enough soldiers into action and there are logistical problems.”
