outlookindia.com
2021-06-04T15:22:09+05:30
One of the most elusive and reclusive insurgent leaders in India could potentially agree to talk with the government to end a four-decade-long insurgency in Assam. Paresh Barua, commander of the last remaining underground Ulfa faction, is warming up to peace overtures from chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
It all started on May 10 when, addressing a press conference, Sarma asked the Ulfa (Independent)’s ‘commander-in-chief’ to join the peace process. Barua responded within five days, declaring a unilateral ceasefire for three months from May 15, but he attributed the decision to the Covid situation in the state. The Ulfa, then undivided, had declared a ceasefire in 2005, too, but the peace process never took off to end successfully.