Arrest of Arabinda Rajkhowa may tilt Assam rebels toward peace - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Few Assamese are drawn to the ULFA these days, as everybody wants to live in peace. According to Ajai Sahni, head of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, "There's an enormous sense of exhaustion. The only way ULFA will continue is if it gets the kind of artificial respiration it got from Bangladesh, from China." He further goes on to say: "With the loss of Bangladesh as a safe haven, ULFA will now have to rely on Chinese support, and China will not allow the open setting up of camps ... This will present ULFA with great logistical and operational difficulties." Despite the ULFA's weakening, it remains capable of acts of deadly violence. In November, at least six people were killed and 40 wounded in bomb blasts in the state. But analysts like Mr. Sahni say the arrest last week of India's Assam rebels chief Arabinda Rajkhowa, only one senior member now remains at large, raising the prospects for peace talks in Assam. He and other analysts say that it is Bangladesh's probable role in last week's arrests that has given the greatest reasons for hope that ULFA may soon be a spent force. Bangladesh's role is extremely significant," Sahni says.