GUWAHATI, Dec 9 ? The ULFA today rejected the offer of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to come for talks. In a statement e-mailed to the media here this evening, ULFA Commander-in-Chief Paresh Baruah said, ?The reply of the Prime Minister to Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami will disappoint the peace loving people of Assam. It is not surprising that the Prime Minister?s reply was sent by the security adviser to PMO which shows that the Prime Minister did not think it worth to give a personal reply to the sincere effort of Dr Goswami.?
The ULFA leader stated that the PMO?s letter is contradictory and confusing. He pointed out that on one hand the letter said that the Prime Minister hasn?t put any pre-condition for talks but on the other letter made it clear that the Prime Minister is ready to talk only with the groups prepared to abjure violence, which itself is a pre-condition.
He also said that the letter didn?t mention anything about the core issue of sovereignty at a time when the ULFA made it clear that the issue of sovereignty should be the main agenda for discussion. ?Under the circumstances it is simply not possible for the ULFA to proceed further,? he asserted. The ULFA leader lauded the ?sincere efforts? of Dr Goswami.
It may be mentioned that earlier on December 6 the Prime Minister had called upon the ULFA to come for unconditional talks with the Government of India. This was disclosed by noted litterateur Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami, who had been trying to initiate talks between the Government and the ULFA and had forwarded a draft proposal to the Prime Minister in this regard. Dr Goswami had received the response of the Prime Minister?s Office to her appeal and it was signed by the Chief Security Adviser to the Prime Minister MK Narayanan.