NEW DELHI, Nov 28 ? THe banned insurgent outfit, National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), active in Assam for a separate Bodoland, wants to give peace a chance and has expressed its willingness to hold talks with the Centre.
?We want to give a chance to India for a peaceful resolution of the conflict,? said Nabla Daimary or D R Nabla, chief of the NDFB, which has been held responsible for several killings and bomb blasts in different parts of Assam, in an interview.
It is understood that some top leaders of the outlawed group were here recently to hold informal parleys with Union Home Ministry officials to chalk out formalities for initiating a peace process after the Centre offered to hold talks with all insurgent outfits which lay down arms.
Asked whether the NDFB would put any condition to come to the negotiating table, Daimary said: ?We are not putting any conditions for the talks. We have our ideology and principles enshrined in our constitution. So our talks will be based on our ideology and principles.?
To a question as to where they wanted to hold the peace parleys as the outfit had earlier sought a third country to be the venue, he said ?we will talk where we can talk openly and where there is safety and security of our representatives.?
Regarding reports about NDFB following the footsteps of National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) in coming to the negotiating table, Daimary, who is himself a wanted man, said from his hideout that his organisation was ?not influenced by the NSCN as far our ceasefire declaration is concerned.?
He claimed that his organisation ?stood fast in the last seven years without the NSCN. After 18 years of struggle we have decided to go for ceasefire as a step towards initiating talks with the government.?
Daimary said no group was mediating between them and the government for initiating the peace process. Asked about their attacks against innocents in Assam, especially targeting the north Indians, the NDFB chief said ?we have love and respect for them. But this cannot be at the cost of our land and people, which they should respect. We are fighting to liberate our land and people and there is no question of killing innocents or cleansing of north Indians.?
Daimary said the Bodoland they were demanding would be ?a heterogeneous state? and there would be ?no conflict on the basis of ethnicity or religion..... You know we are not fighting each other.?