Ulfa declares truce

"All the cadres and units of Ulfa have been directed to immediately halt all kinds of armed activities against the Indian security forces," said United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa in a statement faxed to the media in Assam on Friday.

After hearing the government's move, "we've decided to reciprocate to prepare the ground for direct peace talks", he said.

On August 13, Indian government had, in a goodwill gesture, announced that security forces would halt operations against the Ulfa for a few days in an effort to jump-start the talks.

The Indian government and Ulfa-nominated intermediaries have so far held three rounds of preliminary discussions over the past year in an effort to initiate direct talks between Ulfa and India government.

The message from Rajkhowa came on a day when two of the Ulfa-appointed intermediaries held talks with Indian National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Home Secretary V K Duggal in New Delhi on Friday.

Duggal told reporters after the meeting that there would be another round of discussions in a few days to finalise modalities for initiation of direct talks between Ulfa and the government.

The insurgent group's decision to respond to the government's olive branch notwithstanding, there remains the issue of release of five key Ulfa's leaders jailed in Guwahati to be sorted out.

The intermediaries of Ulfa want the release of the leaders before the direct talks but the Indian government has made it clear that the release be simultaneous to Ulfa's stating time and place for the talks and also publicly abjuring violence.