In what may be one of the biggest challenges for the Election Commission of India, the demand for disarming the pro-talk faction of Ulfa and NDFB rebels for a free and fair polling has started gaining momentum in Assam.
Though, many political parties including the AGP and BJP were skeptical about giving free movement to these armed rebels, the Forum for Terrorist Victims Family here on Thursday demanded that all the pro-talk militants should be locked within the boundary of a designated camps immediately so that people can exercise their franchise without any fear.
The president of the Forum Brojen Hazarika said, “If recent incidents are any indicator, it is evident that the militant groups are still indulging in acts like extortion and we feel that they could well be used during the polls to influence the voters.”
The forum also met the union home secretary in New Delhi recently and submitted a memorandum demanding immediate seizure of weapons from them.
The other significant demand of the forum, which may upset the political circle of the state is to set up more designated courts in order to re-investigate the cases by facilitating proper protection to the witnesses.“The cases, which have been disposed of by the designated court on technical grounds should be reinvestigated by the Special Investigation Team,” the memorandum stated. Moreover, the forum wanted that representatives of the forum should also be the party to the peace process.