Guwahati, May 20: Ulfa ideologue and the outfit?s vice-chairman, Pradip Gogoi, today said a military operation by Bhutan to dismantle militant camps there would be the ?wrong move?.
Reacting to a report in The Telegraph today about Thimphu?s plans to dismantle all camps of the Ulfa and the NDFB by November, the jailed militant leader told newspersons outside a Tada court here that Bhutan could not expect to resolve the issue through aggression.
The Ulfa alone has nine camps in Bhutan.
Gogoi, who has been languishing in jail in Guwahati since his arrest in Calcutta in 1997, said Bhutan should avoid armed confrontation because the Ulfa favoured an amicable way of finding a solution.
?We want cordial relations with all our neighbours. We do not want any confrontation.?
On the Ulfa?s uncompromising stand on a dialogue with New Delhi, he said the onus of creating a congenial atmosphere for talks was on the Centre. ?It (the Centre) should stop all military operations against us and declare a ceasefire if it is sincere in initiating a dialogue to find a political solution to the problem.?
However, the Ulfa leader stuck to the three conditions for talks ? a foreign country as venue, inclusion of the issue of ?sovereignty? on the agenda and the presence of a ?third-party? representative.
Gogoi claimed to have met former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao in 1992 to create the ground for peace talks. He said the Ulfa had decided to enter into a dialogue at that point of time to save the people of Assam from ?undue harassment?.
He blamed ?lack of political will? for the failure of the preliminary talks. ?The Centre did not accept our two conditions ? a halt to army operations and release of all our jailed members ? to carry forward the negotiations.?
The Ulfa leader said he failed to understand why the Centre was unwilling to hold talks with his outfit abroad. ?The government of India has agreed to hold talks with the NSCN (I-M) in a third country. So, why isn?t it adhering to the same criteria in the Ulfa?s case?? he asked.
Two rounds of talks were held between the Ulfa and the Centre in 1992. The first delegation met Rao on January 9 that year and Gogoi led another team to New Delhi later.
Criticising Assam?s political, student and public leaders for their failure to convince Delhi to initiate a dialogue with the Ulfa, Gogoi said the state was suffering because of the Centre?s stubbornness.
On the series of attacks by the Ulfa on vital installations, he said, ?Nobody wants to destroy public property. So, I think it would be better if attacks on such installations are avoided.?
However, he refused to admit that the Ulfa had erred in attacking oil and other installations. ?We have to take into account the circumstances leading to such attacks.?