"Open To Discussion": Assam's ULFA-I Ends I-Day Boycott After 40 Years

ULFA-I has said that it is ready for a discussion on Assam's sovereignty, by putting forth "historical facts" and in line with the objective of the outfit.

The anti-talk faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom- Independent (ULFA-I) led by Paresh Baruah, after over 40 years, has decided it is not going to boycott or give a call for a bandh on the occasion of Independence Day this year. The outfit, however, raised objection to the celebration of Independence Day in Assam, saying that the state was "never a part of colonial India" The group, in a press release, cited the second article of the Treaty of Yandaboo, which was signed on February 24, 1826, between the East India Company and Burma. "According to the second article of the treaty, Burma and East India Company had accepted the sovereignty of Assam, and the state was not transferred to British India," the group said in a statement.