The main rebel group in India's troubled north-east will hold peace talks with the Indian government next week, an insurgent leader said Saturday. The announcement by the United Liberation Front of Asom comes after New Delhi released seven top ULFA leaders, including chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, from prison in Assam state.
"We are ready for unconditional peace talks with the Indian government and the first round will be held in New Delhi on February 10," Sasha Chowdhury, a key rebel leader, told reporters in Gauhati, the capital of Assam state. The separatists accuse the Indian government of exploiting Assam's natural resources while doing little for the indigenous people, most of whom are ethnically closer to the people of Myanmar and China than to other Indians.
The government freed Rajkhowa and six other ULFA leaders on bail and offered them safe passage to facilitate the talks. They are facing sedition charges punishable by life imprisonment.
The talks with the government have revealed a split in the ULFA ranks. Paresh Barua, the group's commander in chief, and his supporters oppose peace talks and are sticking to their demand for an independent state. Other top rebel leaders have joined hands with Rajkhowa in pursuit of peace with India.
On Saturday, Assam state's top elected official, Tarun Gogoi, invited Barua to join the peace talks but added "the government can't wait indefinitely for him to do so." More than 30 groups in the north-east have been fighting for decades for independence from India or wide autonomy in the region, about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) east of New Delhi.