The United Liberation Front of Assam and India Sign Peace Pact

On Friday, the Government of India, authorities from the Assam state, and a faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) signed a peace agreement in New Delhi.

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"Today is a golden day for the future of Assam, which has been the most affected state by violence for a long time," Interior Minister Amit Shah said during the signing of the agreement.

"I want to assure ULFA that the government will prepare a program with set deadlines to implement the agreement, and a committee will also be formed," he added.

Assam's Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, was also present during the signing of the agreement, which addresses issues such as illegal immigration, the rights of Indigenous communities, and a development aid package for the region.

ULFA, which is one of the main insurgent groups in Assam, was founded in 1979 by a group of 20 youths who initiated an armed struggle for the independence of Assam.

Currently, this organization is divided into a faction advocating for peace talks led by its president Arabinda Rajkhowa, and another faction that prefers to continue the armed struggle led by Commander Paresh Baruah. ULFA already reached a ceasefire with the Assam government in 2011 but later refused to surrender weapons.

About a dozen separatist groups operate in Assam and other regions of northeastern India, which are connected to the rest of the country by only a narrow strip of land.

There has been a closer relationship between New Delhi and the northeastern part of the country since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, Shah affirmed, adding that "in the last five years, nine peace agreements have been signed in the northeast," including the surrender of over 9,000 insurgents in the area.

On Nov. 29, the Indian government also signed a peace deal with the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), active for six decades in the state of Manipur, adjacent to Assam.