ULFA 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Baruah has reportedly endorsed thenegotiation process initiated by Goswami, but his statements to the media remainmired in histrionics and follow an escalatory trajectory. There has been a greatdeal of formalism regarding the character of the formal invitation from the government,with ULFA insisting that it would not consider an offer of talks unless itreceived a letter "with official seal and signature". Six monthslater, after receiving the scanned version of the letter provided by theNational Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan to mediator Indira Goswami by e-mail onMay 24, Baruah said that a letter "sent through the internet" wouldnot suffice, insisting, "The original has not come as yet. We want a letterin the format in which we had sent our offer to the centre," a positionthat was reiterated on June 10 by ULFA 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa.
Quickly thereafter, ULFA has demanded the release of the group's arrested'central committee' members on the grounds that a 'quorum' needs to be completedto discuss the government's invitation. Four of ULFA's top leaders, including'vice chairman' Pradip Gogoi, 'advisor' Bhimkanta Buragohain, 'culturalsecretary' Pranati Deka and 'publicity secretary' Mithinga Daimari are presentlybehind bars.
And while ULFA continues to drag out the preliminaries to the negotiationprocess, it has never stopped doing what put it on the United states' list of'Other Selected Terrorist Organisations'. Since December 7, 2004, when the PMOhanded over the first letter of invitation to Indira Goswami, the outfit hasdetonated 50 explosions across the state. The most recent of these, on June 4,targeted a microwave tower in Guwahati city. Even as the mediator asked thesecurity forces (SFs) to stop operations against the group and wrote to theDefence Minister on the same lines, ULFA continued to target civilians andsecurity force personnel. On May 26, two bicycle borne ULFA terrorists killed aleader of the Congress party at the Dhekorgorah Block office in Jorhat district.On May 20, an Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel was killed and four otherssustained injuries, when ULFA ambushed a bus transporting the SF personnel, atBorhat in Sibsagar district.
At the same time, ULFA is reorganising its units in its traditional strongholds,forming new 'battalions', and moving into hitherto unexplored territories, bothwithin Assam and in adjoining states. On April 20, the Police demolished awell-equipped camp of ULFA's newly-formed '27th battalion' in Karbi Anglongdistrict, an area where the organisation's traditional influence has been low.The camp was established in the first week of April and was led by a middlelevel cadre, Dandi Bora. On April 21, six ULFA leaders, including a woman'sergeant major', were arrested by the Army at Sesupani in Tinsukia District asthey descended into Assam from their Changlang camp in neighbouring ArunachalPradesh.