'The leaders who will talk have to come forward. We have got only one letter so far from an ULFA leader expressing willingness to talk,' Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi.
The government is prepared to provide all facilities under law to the jailed top United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) leadership if they come forward for talks, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said today.
"We will give all facilities within the existing provisions of law to them (ULFA) to hold talks. But no proposal has been received so far from them," Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati.
"The leaders who will talk have to come forward. We have got only one letter so far from an ULFA leader expressing willingness to talk," he said.
"But we want more leaders to come forward so that the talks are successful and complete. We want even the fence seaters, including (ULFA 'c-in-c') Paresh Barua, to come for negotiations," Gogoi said.
"Our attempt is to bring the majority of their leaders to the negotiation table. But we cannot wait indefinitely," he said.
On the June 30 statement by Union home minister P Chidambaram that the government would have to wait for the court's decision on the release of jailed ULFA leaders, Gogoi said, "the bail issue is not in our hands. Bail has to be given by court."
Asked if the talks proposal had taken a U-turn following Chidambaram's statement, Gogoi said, "the point is some (ULFA leaders) have expressed their desire for talks. We want more to come."
On June 25, Paresh Barua had rejected the efforts by the Sanmilita Jatiya Abhibartan (SJA), a body of senior citizens of the state which has come forward to facilitate the talks, saying it did represent the common people.
Barua has accused the SJA members of representing their 'own selfish interests' during talks with the Centre and said they did not understand the sentiment of the Assamese people.
On a recent ULFA warning to the government on the hike of fuel and essential supplies, the chief minister said, "I am not afraid of the ULFA. They have been warning me and my government throughout.
"They are trying to sabotage my government. We will take appropriate action if they do something. We will not go by what they or any other insurgent outfits say," he said.
Asked if the ULFA was stepping up activities by targeting the tea industry, he said, "ULFA is trying to re-establish itself. But their support base has not increased. Their extortion drive has increased in some places and reduced in others. Many outfits posing as ULFA have also come up," he said.
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