ULFA peace pact political gimmick: Assam Opposition

Guwahati: Stating that the peace agreement with the pro-talks faction of ULFA has nothing new to offer, opposition parties in Assam on Friday slammed the BJP and said the pact is "merely a political gimmick" ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Asking the government to make the agreement with United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) public, opposition leaders stressed that many old points of earlier accords have been "re-written in a different language and tone".

ULFA's pro-talks faction on Friday signed a peace accord with the central and Assam governments, agreeing to renounce violence, surrender all arms, disband the organisation and join the democratic process.

"This pact does not look like an agreement between a sovereignty seeking group and the government. Many of the clauses mentioned in the agreement are just some routine duties of any elected government," leader of the opposition Debabrata Saikia told PTI here.

The agreement does not have any mention of the Assam Accord, which is very important for safeguarding the interests of the state, he added.

"The government said Rs 1.5 lakh-crore investment will be made. This is a natural duty of a government. I hope that a new rich contractor class is not created out of this," Saikia stressed.

CPI(M) Assam state secretary Suprakash Talukdar demanded the government to make the agreement public as the state's people have the right to know it.

"The Assam CM has been repeatedly saying that without the participation of ULFA(I) chief Paresh Barua in this process, it won't fructify. So what will be the outcome of this accord? Is the CM sticking to this position now also?" he asked.

Raijor Dal President and Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi termed the pact as "disgusting" and wondered whether it is a peace agreement or an "election manifesto of the BJP".

"It has not fulfilled any of the aspirations of the Assamese people. Land, political and economic rights, culture, language and identity -- nothing of these have been protected through the pact," he added.

Gogoi also alleged that the agreement only highlighted what the central government plans to do in Assam over a period of next 8-10 years.

Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi questioned whether this pact will really bring peace in the state as it has not seen involvement of the chief of the underground ULFA(I) faction.

"None of the important issues affecting the state has been included in the agreement. The old issues, which were already part of many existing pacts, have been re-written in a different language and tone to suit BJP's political ambitions," he added.

Assam TMC president Ripun Bora said the agreement looks like "just a political gimmick" for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, but it should not have been like this.

"It took 12 years to sign a pact since the talks began. These ULFA leaders have already assimilated with the mainstream. What is the point of this agreement now? All the clauses are too generic to even note," he added.

The historic Assam Accord has not been implemented fully yet and the pact with ULFA has not offered anything new to the people, Bora said.