STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The State Government has requested ULFA-I chief Paresh Baruah to visit Assam just for a few days as a guest to know the ground reality in the state.
Speaking to the media today, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "Let Paresh Baruah come to Assam as a guest for a week, not for talks. He will realize the difference between 'Assam of the 1980s and 'present Assam'. Paresh Baruah has the concept that outsiders have engulfed the State etched on his mind. The present situation is such that a large number of youths from Assam are working in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, etc."
The Chief Minister said, It's up to him to accept my invitation or not. If he accepts the invitation, the government will make all arrangements for his safe passage. I have repeatedly appealed to him to sit across the negotiating table. The Central Government is also keen to hold talks with him. However, a few technical hurdles continue to drive a wedge between the government and him. I have information from various sources that several youths who joined the ULFA want to join the main stream of society. The fighting between two factions of Nagaland militant organisations in Myanmar has also put the ULFA boys in troubled waters."
A few days ago, Paresh Baruah threatened the state DGP to refrain from framing innocent youths of the ULFA in fake encounters. The development came close on the heels of an accused injured in a police firing pertaining to a case of demanding money from businessmen in upper Assam. The ULFA maintained that a section of people have been collecting money in the name of the ULFA.
In his reply, the DGP refuted the claim of the ULFA.
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