New Delhi: The much awaited peace agreement with the pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) will be signed in May, said Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday. Sarma said that the discussions were progressing in the positive direction. “We are hopeful that by May we will be able to sign the peace agreement with the pro-talks faction of ULFA and we are proceeding accordingly,” Sarma added.
The Assam government has given the draft peace agreement to the pro-talks leaders. “If the pro-talks faction of the ULFA aggree with the draft aggreement then we will sign it in May itself. Else, if they don’t agree then the signing of the agreement will get postponed,” Sarma said without divulging the content of the draft agreement. The chief minister said discussions were also on with the ULFA-Independent
The insurgent outfit, ULFA, which has been fighting for a sovereign Assam has been divided into two factions namely pro and anti-talks. The surrendered and arrested leaders of the outfit are members of the pro-talks whereas the elusive leader of the hardliner ULFA chief Paresh Barua is heading the anti-talks faction named (ULFA-Independent).
In a significant move, the Assam government is signing a peace agreement with the Dimasa National Liberation Army (DNLA), an insurgent group of the state in New Delhi this evening. “With the signing of this peace agreement with DNLA, there will be no other organization except ULFA-pro and anti-talks left for inking peace agreement. We have resolved the insurgency issue by signing peace agreements with all outfits,” Sarma said.
During the day, Sarma attended a meeting with the top police brass of the state through video conferencing in New Delhi. He directed the SPs to work proactively for improving the overall law and order situation in the state. Further, he took stock of the pending cases, drug related crimes, cyber crimes, crimes against women and others.
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He also stressed on reducing crime against women by adapting the best practices of West Bengal, Karnataka and other states. “Concerted efforts must be made to make our cities and towns safer for women,” he said. Sarma directed Principal Secretary, Home and Political, Niraj Verma, to initiate the process for recruitment of Public Prosecutors and Additional Public Prosecutors by August.
In an attempt to strengthen the police machinery for Guwahati city, four battalions situated in the capital city or its periphery will be made accessible to the police commissionerate while more police districts are being set up in East Guwahati Police district. Senior police officials, in a presentation, stated that pendency of criminal cases has dipped from 95,000 (in 2021) to 55,000 (in 2022); crime against women has reduced from 73,474 cases in May 2021 to 12,730 cases on March, 2023.
State government has come up with a portal, named Assam Police Seva Setu, catering to 24 services and filing of e-FIR will be launched soon. This portal will be linked to e-Prastuti of the Home department and RTPS. The Chief Minister directed the DGP and other senior police officials to start the process for forming of nagarik samitees by May this year. The one and a half hour long meeting was attended by Minister for Information and Public Relations, Pijush Hazarika, DGP, GP Singh, Principal Resident Commissioner, Rajeev Chandra Joshi and Principal Secretary to CM, Sameer Kumar Sinha.
