Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday chaired a meeting with a 13-member delegation of the pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), which is now disbanded, and discussed the issues of rehabilitation of its ex-cadres at the Lok Sewa Bhawan in Assam’s state capital Guwahati.
The meeting discussed the demands of the delegation which according to the members would help them to lead a respectable life. Chief Minister Sarma upon hearing the demands said that a mechanism of rehabilitation would be formulated for expeditiously meeting their demands. The Chief Minister said that the government will proactively address all the issues to ensure that the ex-cadres and their family members can lead a decent life, Assam Chief Minister’s Public Relations Cell stated in a press release.
Chief Minister Sarma also said that he will work with all earnest for the expeditious implementation of the Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) that was signed in a tripartite agreement between the Central government, Assam government, and the pro-talks faction of the ULFA on December 29, 2023, the release stated.
The delegation of the now disbanded pro-talks faction of the ULFA was led by its President Rajib Rajkowar and General Secretary (GS) Golap Barua. Assam Director General of Police (DGP) Gyanendra Pratap Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Home and Political, Avinash Puroshattam Das Joshi, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Hiren Nath, and other senior officers of the state Home Department were present at the meeting, the release added.
The ULFA was founded on April 7, 1979, at the historic Rang Ghar in Assam’s Sivasagar district with the aim of seeking to establish an independent sovereign nation-state of Assam for the indigenous Assamese people through an armed struggle. The Union government banned the ULFA in 1990 citing it as a terrorist organisation.
In February 2011, the outfit split into two groups, one led by its Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who decided to shun violence and and sit for talks with the government, while the other group led by its Commander-in-Chief Paresh Baruah, was against any talks and rebranded itself as the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I).
Forty-four years after being formed, the ULFA, with around 700 members, disbanded itself on Tuesday, January 23 this year at the organisation’s final general meeting held at Sipajhar in the state’s Darrang district. The meeting was held 25 days after the organisation signed a tripartite MoS in New Delhi on December 29, 2023.