Centre ready to hold talks with ULFA: Advani

GUWAHATI, February 5: Union home minister L.K. Advani on Sunday said that the Centre is ready to hold talks with the separatist United Liberation Front of Asom but made it clear that the government will not compromise on the country's sovereignty. Advani, who arrived in the eastern Assam tea growing district town of Tinsukia on Sunday morning on a two-day visit to the state, was addressing a public rally attended by an estimated 5,000 people who defied a joint general strike called by the ULFA and another rebel group in protest against his visit. "We are ready for talks with any rebel group in Assam. But, I will like to make it clear that they must abandon arms and also let them know that the country's unity, integrity and sovereignty cannot be compromised under any circumstances," he said. The ULFA and a tribal guerrilla group, the National Democratic Front of Boroland, had called a 12-hour statewide general strike from 6 am on Sunday and had asked people to boycott Advani's public programmes. Both the rebel groups are fighting the Indian state for independent homelands. The strike hit normal life with private vehicles remaining off the road and shops and business establishments keeping their shutters down. Being a Sunday, the strike has not hit functioning of government offices. The home minister met relatives of some of the Hindi-speaking traders and wage earners who were killed by armed militants in the area in October and December last year. He promised government jobs to the next of kin of those killed as a rehabilitation measure. "We are gearing up for the state Assembly elections in April and Advani has kicked off our poll campaign today," Bhaben Sharma, chief of the BJP's Tinsukia district unit said on telephone. The home minister is scheduled to meet Assam governor S.K. Sinha, Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and senior civil and defence officials later on Sunday to review the security situation in the state. Sections in the Assam Government are keen on calling a unilateral ceasefire so as to prepare the grounds for a possible dialogue with the ULFA and the NDFB rebel leadership.