India sets conditions for talks with Assam rebels

INDIA: India set conditions for restarting peace talks with a northeastern separatist group to end decades of violence in the region, a report said.

Indira Goswami, who headed the negotiating team chosen by the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), said New Delhi wants “communication from the rebel leaders expressing their willingness for unconditional talks,” the Press Trust of India news agency said.

India’s national security advisor, M.K. Narayanan, passed on the stipulation to Goswami, a noted Assamese writer, the report said.

New Delhi also said that the release of top jailed ULFA leaders would be considered only after the negotiations began, said Goswami, who has led three rounds of talks on behalf of the rebels since October 2005.

Goswami said she would appeal to the ULFA to resume peace talks.

“We will now appeal to ULFA and put across the government’s view ... If they are fighting for us, then they will have to listen to us,” she said.

Goswami said she had also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had showed “genuine interest” in solving the insurgency in oil and timber-rich Assam state, the report said.

New Delhi, Wednesday, AFP