Guwahati, May 04: A day after Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi rejected ULFA’s sovereignty demand, a forum of intellectuals of Assam today said the matter should be decided by the group before coming to the negotiating table.
“ULFA should come to the negotiating table without any precondition but on its demand for sovereignty it is for the group to decide,” Citizens Forum convenor and litterateur Hiren Gohain told reporters here.
In its convention held last month, the forum had urged the government and ULFA to cross hurdles and talk on issues that have created problems in the peace process.
“We (the forum) are only to facilitate the peace talks,” Gohain said when asked to comment on Gogoi’s rejection of the sovereignty demand.
The right approach, he said, would be to discuss the reasons and issues that prompted ULFA to demand secession.
–Agencies