I'm not aware of ULFA-ISI links: Indira Goswami http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=443280
GUWAHATI, JAN 12 (PTI) Noted writer Indira Goswami, who played a key role in mediating with the ULFA, today denied that she was aware of the banned group's links with the ISI as alleged by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. "If I was aware that the ULFA had links with an anti- national organisation, why would have I asked them to come forward for talks?" she told reporters here. "In that case, I would have myself backed out from contacting the ULFA." Goswami asked why was she given the responsibility to broker peace with the ULFA if the Centre and the Assam government knew about the group's links with the ISI. "If the Centre had intelligence inputs about the links, they should've informed me." She said two years ago, when she decided to step in as a mediator to end the decades-long insurgency in Assam, she had asked ULFA chief Paresh Baruah about the group's reported links with the ISI. "Paresh had denied it and said he had no reservations for talks either in Assam or elsewhere. Thus the peace process started," she said. On Gogoi's criticism that she had delayed in condemning the recent killing of migrant workers by the ULFA, the former Delhi University teacher said she was away from Assam when the violence occurred. "Immediately on my return from Kolkata, I condemned the killings. I have also expressed my unhappiness to the ULFA," she claimed.
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