Gogoi talks peace in former Ulfa heartland

GUWAHATI: Seven years after Ulfa militants were flushed out of Bhutan, chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday addressed a seminar on "happiness and economic development" in Thimphu, the capital of the Himalayan kingdom, and take the findings to the United Nations General Assembly next month. From 1992 to 2003, Ulfa used the country's soil as its base. The international conference convened by Bhutan follows aproposal of the country adopted by 193 member-countries of UN to include"happiness" as the Ninth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in New York lastmonth. This is Gogoi's first visit to the country, which shares part of itssouthern boundary with Assam and was once the cause of the state's unhappinesswhen Ulfa set up base there in 1993. The militants of the group were flushed outin a military offensive by the Royal Bhutan Army in December, 2003. Bhutan'ssoil was also used by NDFB rebels. But eventually, they were also driven outalong with Ulfa militants. Gogoi, on the second day of theconference in Thimphu on Thursday, presented the keynote address on "GrossNational Happiness: India's Views". He said, "We want to be an economic andmilitary superpower. But more than that, we want to be a happy nation. We wantto be recognized as a happy nation by the world." According to agovernment spokesman, Gogoi outlined his efforts to make the state happy stateand added, "To build a happy society, problems of all tribal groups should besolved and their aspirations should be fulfilled." He added that the 6{+t}{+h}Schedule of the Indian Constitution and other autonomous set ups have helped tobring back peace and happiness in the state. Jeffrey Sachs, thedirector of Earth Institute, Columbia University, is co-hosting the conferencewith Bhutanese Prime Minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y. Thinley. Sachs is also aspecial adviser to the UN secretary general.Bhutan's state-run dailyKuensel reported that professor Sachs expects that the discussions in the nextthree days would be very important to help make clear to the world that MDGs dostand for happiness of the population, including the happiness of the poorest ofthe poor. "The conference was not only for developing countries, but also forhigh-income countries and that they have to find a better economic strategy,"the Bhutanese daily quoted Sachs as saying.