by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Dineshwar Sharma to to be New Assam Interlocutor
No extension to P C Haldar
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, April 30, 2017
Former Director of Intelligence Bureau Dineshwar Sharma may be the new Interlocutor for Assam.
Sharma who is considered close to the Modi dispensation as he served IB Chief for two years, is being appointed as Assam’s new interlocutor. Sharma will replace P C Haldar who was also a former IB Director under the UPA government of Manmohan Singh.
The Modi government has decided not to grant further extension to P C Haldar for peace talks in Assam. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) wanted to hold further peace talks with ULFA and other factions on its own. Haldar, a 1970-batch IPS officer who was IB director between 2007 and 2009, was appointed as Assam interlocutor in 2009 and remains in the post for more than seven years. His term ended on December 31, 2016.
MHA officials said that orders were issued early this month informing Haldar that the “competent authority has decided not to extend the term of the interlocutor”. He was directed by the MHA to submit the representations received from various factions till December 30, 2016, the officials said.
Sources said that though the BJP government has come to power in Assam, the Centre plans to continue the dialogue process with the fringe groups. There were also demands from some factions of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (P) to remove Haldar.
Earlier, the Narendra Modi government got top ULFA leader Anup Chetia extradited from Bangladesh who was released on bail ahead of Assembly polls in Assam. According to the MHA, Haldar held consultations with Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel), United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), and in 2011 was key to the tripartite Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between the central government, government of Assam and UPDS that aimed to provide enhanced autonomy for Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council in Assam and a special package for speedier socio-economic and educational development of the area for which the council was set up.
Talks between the Centre and ULFA were on hold for a while in 2016 due to the impending Supreme Court judgment on petitions seeking 1951 as the cut-off year for citizenship of people residing in Assam instead of 1971 as per the Assam Accord. The case is currently being monitored by the Supreme Court.
