GUWAHATI, Dec 28 � Assam is likely to see birth of a new political party soon as militant outfit United People�s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) is planning to join the �political process� after the signing of the peace accord with the State and Central Governments. The state and central governments and the militant outfit have already approved the draft accord and the final accord will be signed after the draft is approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, Wojeru Mukrang, joint secretary, political affairs, of the UPDS, said that the militant group would be disbanded after the formal signing of the peace accord. He said that the UPDS would then join the political process as �we would be able to ensure implementation of the accord only by joining the political process.� He said that the formal accord with the Central and State Governments is likely to be signed within January next year.
The UPDS was demanding either creation of a separate state or an autonomous state under the provisions of Article 244 (A) of the Constitution of India. But now the outfit has accepted the proposal of the Central and State Governments to upgrade the existing Autonomous Council with more legislative and financial powers. Mukrang said that earlier, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council did not have legislative powers and had to depend entirely on the Hill Areas Department of the State Government. But after the signing of the accord, the situation would change.
The UPDS leader said that after eight years of talks with the Government, the outfit finally accepted the proposals put forward by the Government to give more powers to the people of the hill district. However, he made it clear that the UPDS has not given up the demand for creation of a separate state or an autonomous state. He said that after joining the political process, the UPDS would raise the demand for a state in a democratic manner as there would be no clause in the accord to prevent the UPDS from doing so.
Rehabilitation of the cadres would be one of the main issues before the leadership of the UPDS and the outfit would demand a special rehabilitation package from the Government.
Replying to a question on whether the KLNLF, another militant group from Karbi Anglong would accept the accord with the UPDS, Mukrang said that the UPDS is ready to talk with the KLNLF, which is already under cease-fire agreement with the Government. �The KLNLF does not want to recognize us and it is up to them to decide whether to accept the agreement between Government and UPDS. The people of Karbi Anglong have wholeheartedly supported the draft accord and we are holding rallies to make the people aware of the process of talks,� he added.
