Refuting Ravi Shankar’s proposal, Paresh Baruah says no peace talks without ‘Sovereign Assam’ on agenda

Refuting the peace talk proposal by spiritual guru Ravi Shankar, Paresh Baruah said in his open letter to the founder of Art of Living that, the  independence of  Asom (Assam) is  the  birth  right  of  all  indigenous  people and ULFA-I.

“We do not want to participate in any forms of peace talks unless the government of India is willing to take the independence of Assam into consideration and practice it in their constitution,” the ULFA-I’s C-in-C said in the letter.

Paresh Baruah said that, a few terms you (Ravi Shankar) used in your briefing deeply offended our ideologies.

“First of all word ‘rehabilitation’ is strong word to use against our ideologies and principles. Our arms struggle for a sovereign Assam does not need any form of rehabilitation, demanding our mother land which was forcefully occupied by Indian colonists is not an illness or a crime. We have repeatedly shared our concerns about your proposal of peace talks, we released multiple statements stating that you have repeatedly asked us to join in the false, biased and ridiculous peace talks held by the Indian government,” the elusive leader of the outfit said.

Refuting the proposal by the spiritual guru to join the mainstream, peace talks, Paresh Baruah said that, we only follow the revolutionary stream that will lead to an Independent Asom.

“You have raised concerns over our arms struggle, we have picked up arms in order to protect ourselves not to threaten any individual or sovereign nation. Our struggles would not have gained recognition from the government of India or the world if we did not pick up arms for the independence of mother Asom. Our struggles will continue until our ultimate goal is achieved,” Paresh Baruah said.

The dreaded leader of the ULFA’s anti-talk faction group urged the spiritual guru not to ask them to lay down their arms in hope of "empty promises."

Paresh Baruah suggested Ravi Shankar to stick to his "pretentious religion" and let them continue their journey to freedom.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)