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| Sunday, 3 October 2004 |
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Separatist group rejects ceasefire offer in northeast India GUWAHATI, India, Oct 2 (AFP) A separatist group in India's northeastern province of Assam has rejected a ceasefire offer by the state chief minister to end more than two decades of bloodshed, a militant leader said Saturday. "The puppet chief minister has no right to offer a ceasefire and we do not believe in any conditional truce by the government," said Paresh Baruah, self-styled commander-in-chief of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Thursday gave the rebels, who are fighting for a separate homeland, until October 15 to respond to his invitation for a truce. The rebel leader was quoted as saying by newspapers in Assam's main city of Guwahati that the outfit would hold talks with New Delhi if the federal authorities were sincere in their approach. "Let the federal government first work out the modalities for talks and make such ground rules public before announcing a ceasefire," Baruah said. The chief minister said ULFA's decision to reject the ceasefire showed it was not interested in peace. More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam during the past two decades. |
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