Ulfa men stay away from poll process

NALBARI: They had done it once on April 4 and Monday saw the same act being repeated. On a day when people of 64 constituencies in the state queued up outside polling stations to exercise franchise, cadres belonging to Ulfa's pro-talks camp headed by Arabinda Rajkhowa stayed away from casting their votes as decided by their leaders a few months ago.
On Monday, central publicity secretary of Ulfa's pro-talks faction, Mithinga Daimary, said not a single cadre of the group has exercised franchise. "We implemented what we said before," said Daimary at his Neej Zuluki village in Barama constituency. He added that they will abstain from voting until a meaningful solution to the insurgency problem was worked out by both Ulfa and New Delhi.
However, the names of many rebel leaders, including Ulfa foreign secretary Sasadhar Choudhury and deputy commander-in-chief Raju Barua, were in the voters list prepared for the second phase of polls. While Sasadhar Choudhry's name was in the voters list' of Dharmapur constituency, Raju Barua's name was in the list for Nalbari constituency. Along with senior leaders, more than 400 Ulfa cadres didn't cast their votes.
Daimary said although they are not participating in the polls, they want a solution to the armed conflict between Ulfa and the Centre through a democratic process.
Expecting an early solution to the insurgency problem, Daimary said they have welcomed Union home minister P Chidambaram's recent comment on the peace talks. "We have welcomed the recent statement of the Union home minister on early solution to the Ulfa problem. He added that the talks process will progress significantly this year," said the Ulfa leader.