National

Centre rejects NDFB’s contention

Guwahati: The Union government has told the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) that there can be no discussion on “right to self-determination, including the right to independence and sovereignty,” which was proposed by the militant outfit.

New Delhi has also asked the NDFB to submit a charter of demands within the framework of the Constitution by September.

The ceasefire was extended by a month during the discussions between the Ministry of Home Affairs officials and the NDFB on September 1. The Centre conveyed its stand to the outfit that time.

The militant outfit stated that a congenial atmosphere for holding peace talks was prevailing in “Boroland” since it declared a ceasefire on October 8, 2004 and the formal ceasefire agreement between it and the Government of India on May 24, 2005.

The NDFB, in its proposed agenda for peace talks submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 1, urged the Government of India to “take the bold initiative to recognise the legitimate right to national self-determination, including the right to independence and sovereignty of the Boro people, so as to resolve the Boroland-India conflict once and for all.”

In the letter to the Prime Minister, signed by NDFB president D.R. Nabla alias Ranjan Daimary and general secretary B. Swmkhwr, the outfit said: “The land of the Boro people has never been a part of India and the Boro people do not belong to the Indian race or to the Indian civilisation, the present forced status being the result of historical accidents, not by choice of the Boro people.”

The NDFB further said: “The Boro people have the inherent and inalienable right to national self-determination as guaranteed by International Law under relevant international covenants — the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Sources close to the NDFB top brass said the Centre told them that the demand for “self-determination, including the right to independence and sovereignty of Boro people,” was not acceptable and could not be taken up in the agenda for peace talks and the outfit should submit its demand within the framework of the Constitution.

The NDFB leaders told the government that peace talks could begin on the agenda proposed by it and there could be give-and-take by both sides. The NDFB may take a decision on the Centre’s insistence of a revised charter of demands in the next week, the sources said.

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