1 TRANSLATION OF THE PROCEEDINGS AND ... - APFA News

again to find a solution to the problem of the remaining five ULFA camps in
Bhutan.
3. Reflections over talks with the NDFB and ULFA leaders
The Home Minister said that the agreement by the ULFA to close down four out
of their nine camps does not really resolve the problem of their presence in the
country. However, the agreement reached with the ULFA in June to close down
the Nangri Camp, the Manas camp, the Deori camp and their Military Training
Centre at Dingshiri would be a good step towards a peaceful solution of the
problem. It was sincerely hoped that similar progress would be made regarding
the remaining five ULFA camps as well as the five NDFB camps during the
next round of talks with their leaders.
The Minister said that it was extremely difficult to hold talks with the ULFA
and the NDFB militants. Their middle level leaders, who are in Bhutan, have
very little mandate to discuss issues with the Royal Government and take
decisions. They keep saying that their top leaders live abroad and their
whereabouts are unknown to them. The top leaders refuse to come for talks on
various pretexts and if at all they do come, they have only one agenda for
discussions, which is to stay in Bhutan till they achieve independence of Assam
and Bodoland. As this will never materialize their stay inside Bhutan could be
indefinite and even be for generations. When pressed hard by the Royal
Government to leave Bhutanese soil immediately, they promise to discuss
amongst themselves and return for further meetings. However, they have
generally failed to keep their promises of returning for further talks, citing
security reasons for not being able to come to Bhutan.
The Minister said that in view of the past experiences in his dealings with them,
he had some doubts as to whether ULFA leaders would indeed implement the
agreement signed by them within December 2001.
75