The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) pro-talks group has signed a disbandment and formal repudiation of violence agreement with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) following several years of ceasefire with the Union and state administrations.
The pact, which both parties refer to as a "peace accord," was signed on Friday, December 29 in New Delhi by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Arabinda Rajkhowa, the leader of this ULFA section, in the presence of Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla.
Although the precise terms, provisions, and assurances of the agreement have not yet been disclosed to the public, the leaders of the Rajkhowa faction announced at a press conference following the agreement's signing in Delhi that 97 of the state's 126 assembly seats would be "reserved" for indigenous people, with the definition of "indigenous" being determined by applying the general rules and technique chosen for the separation exercise that will take place in 2023.
In addition to reexamining the most recent version of the National Register of Citizens (NRCs) and tightening up voter enumeration procedures, the government is expected to soon establish a committee to investigate panchayat reservations for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The land evicted by encroachers will be distributed to landless indigenous people. Additionally, a group would investigate the problem of diseased tea gardens.
CPI(M) Assam state secretary Suprakash Talukdar told PTI that he was demanding that the government make the agreement public. He said, "The Assam CM has been saying repeatedly that this process will not fructify without the participation of ULFA(I) chief Paresh Barua in this process." What then will be the result of this agreement? Is the CM continuing in this role at this time as well?
MLA and president of the Raijor Dal, Akhil Gogoi, referred to the agreement as "disgusting" and questioned if it was a peace treaty or the "BJP's election manifesto."
None of the ambitions of the Assamese people have been met by it. Nothing in terms of culture, language, identity, land, political, or economic rights has been safeguarded by the agreement, according to Gogoi.
The Rajkhowa section of the ULFA signed a ceasefire agreement with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government only in 2011, and since then, they have been in peace talks with the Centre for a deal, even though the cadres have been in designated camps since 2008. The Narendra Modi government has replaced the Center's negotiators twice, resulting in a pause in the negotiations.
While the Rajkhowa group had refused to meet with the Centre to discuss Assam's sovereignty problem under the UPA administration, the Paresh Barua faction of ULFA-Independent had not. There are rumors that the Barua faction is camping in Myanmar and is thought to be less in size than the overground Rajkhowa side.
When Rajkhowa signed the deal, he also gave credit to former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh for initiating the peace process.
