GUWAHATI, July 26 (IANS): An influential faction of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) led by guerrilla leader Ranjan Daimary Tuesday offered an indefinite ceasefire aimed at ending decades of violent insurgency in Assam through peace talks.
"The general meeting of the NDFB unanimously decided to cease all hostile activities indefinitely to find a durable political solution to the conflict through political dialogue with effect from Aug 1 2011," NDFB spokesperson B. Khwlw Khwlw said in a statement emailed to IANS.
A faction of the NDFB led by factional leader Gobinda Basumatary is operating a ceasefire since 2005 and holding peace talks with New Delhi.
But the group headed by Ranjan Daimary was opposed to any peace talks and carried out violent strikes - the deadliest being the Oct 30, 2008, serial explosions in Assam that killed nearly 100 people and wounded close to 800 more. There were nine near simultaneous explosions in four districts of Assam.
Daimary was arrested in Bangladesh last year and then handed over to India. He is in jail since May 2010.
With the Ranjan Daimary faction of the NDFB opting for a truce, almost all the militant groups are now in peace mode, barring a faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) led by the elusive commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah.
In all, close to a dozen rebel armies in Assam, including a few ragtag groups, are operating ceasefire with the government, some of them already holding peace talks.
