United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa on Sunday said his outfit wanted an honourable solution to its demands and sought the cooperation of Assam people in finding a peaceful political solution.
Addressing a public rally at Sivasagar en route his ancestral home in Lakwa, Mr. Rajkhowa, who was freed on bail on Saturday, said though the ULFA favoured armed protest, in principle it never wanted a military solution. “A military solution to the Assam-India conflict is not an organisational decision. I have been holding the post of chairman for the past 24 years. During this period we never took any decision to seek a military solution.”
But if the solution was not honourable, the ULFA would come back to the people to seek their opinion whether they wanted the outfit to take up arms once again, wanted it to ascend the throne or go back to the negotiation table, he said.
Many years were wasted in setting preconditions and counter-conditions. He alleged that some people did not want a peaceful political solution and wanted the conflict to continue in their personal interest.
Describing the Sanmilita Jatiya Abhibartan as a neutral platform, Mr. Rajkhowa said the ULFA decided to honour the mass demand raised from this platform, asking the outfit and the Government of India to sit for unconditional talks to end the uncertainty.
Emotional reunion
Mr. Rajkhowa was accorded a warm welcome at Sivasagar and Lakwa, with more than 100 gates decorated with ULFA flags and banners erected en route to his ancestral home. Thousands of people gathered at the rallies addressed by him in both places. It was an emotional reunion between the insurgent leader and his 98-year-old mother Damayanti Rajkonwari, when Mr. Rajkhowa reached home on Sunday night.
Mr. Rajkhowa's mother has lost her eyesight. The ULFA chairman is the youngest son of freedom fighter Umakanta Rajkonwar, who died a few years ago at the age of 102.
The ULFA chairman reiterated his appeal to “all concerned” for facilitating the participation of general secretary Anup Chetia and other jailed members of the central executive and the general council in the peace process so that a formal decision could be taken by the outfit.
Addressing a gathering at the historic Rang Ghar, the 18th century Royal Sports and Culture pavilion of Ahom Kings in Sivasagar district, where the ULFA was raised on April 7, 1979, he said the struggle for Assam's identity had entered a new phase.
