[Assam] Sovereignty Muddle - The Sentinel

[Ram Sarangapani]

Well said!

http://www.sentinelassam.com/editorial/story.php?sec=3&subsec=0&id=34778&dtP=2010-04-30&ppr=1#34778

Sovereignty Muddle

It is interesting that ULFA ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Baruah should still
insist on sovereignty for Assam as a key precondition for peace talks
despite the knowledge that the Government of India will not discuss
sovereignty with the outfit because no self-respecting sovereign government
ever responds to the demand for a separate sovereignty raised by an
insurgent-turned-terrorist organization operating at its own whims and
fancies and without the mandate of the people whose cause it ostensibly
champions. This apart, most of the top ULFA leaders are in jail and have
sent feelers as to a pragmatic peace process sans the sovereignty issue.
Perhaps they have realized the futility of such a preposterous demand as
sovereignty for Assam outside the purview of the Indian Constitution.
Perhaps they are no longer interested in perpetuating the absurd thesis that
Assam is still under colonial occupation. Perhaps they have seen the writing
on the wall, especially the aspiration of the youth who wants to a part and
parcel of the happening of an India emerging from the shackles of the past
and making rapid strides in all fields. Perhaps, and most importantly, the
ULFA political leadership is willing to accept that the youth of Assam would
still go militant not because he is wedded to any ideology, but because both
unemployment and unemployability propel him towards the jungle for
livelihood and because ‘insurgency’ is such a flourishing industry of
terrorism. Perhaps there is some reality check.
On the other hand, there is a distinguished school of thought that is
advocating the cause of peace talks by suggesting that both the parties come
to the negotiating table with an open mind. They are saying that at this
stage the sovereignty issue should not be an impediment to the peace hope.
In other words, the government should not be intransigent about its stated
position on sovereignty and should rather discuss the issue and try to know
as to why the ULFA is demanding sovereignty for Assam. The school of thought
has opined that a discussion on sovereignty does not mean acceptance of the
demand. But there lies the problem. The crux of the matter is that a mere
impression that the government is prepared to hear the sovereignty ‘logic’
from the other side cannot serve any peace purpose when it is known to all
and sundry that the government is not going to reward the ULFA with
sovereignty as an expedient compromise for peace. In other words, when the
government has made it clear in no uncertain terms that there can be
discussion on anything except sovereignty, it is puerile to expect of it to
reach out to a terrorist outfit and share a few warm sovereignty words as
part of a ritual that the Government of India is not at all obliged to
perform. A democratic government, however plagued with aberrations, would
rather have the rebels join the mainstream, contest elections, win them, and
then serve the masses according to their brilliant ideas if any. But that
will be too difficult for those used to the luxury of loot.
That said, we welcome any peace initiative aimed at bringing the ULFA to the
negotiating table. And it is time the ULFA rose to the occasion by taking
part in a meaningful dialogue with the government without bothering about
that destined-to-fail objective called sovereignty for Assam. For, Assam is
already sovereign. We are a sovereign people. And it is for this sovereignty
that a whole gamut of Assamese people had sacrificed their lives to free
their motherland — Bhaarat Varsh — from the yoke of British imperialism. Let
the ULFA no more pretend that it is not introduced to that fact of life, and
let it then contribute to durable peace. And yes, one is justified in
demanding an Assam-specific development and security package. One is
justified in demanding a package that can save us — and the rest of the
Northeast — from the onslaught of a swelling illegal Bangladeshi crowd. But
let not sovereignty be a pretext to further the cause of criminal terrorism.