SLAVIC COMMONWEALTH-Unresolved Issues

which crops up in ULFA's latest statement announcing the ceasefire. While retreating from its earlier goal of sovereignty, and stating that the supreme objective of the organisation was the welfare of the people of Assam, it reiterates that it wants to "ensure the unity of the people of Assam". At a regional level, it smacks of the same hegemonistic ambition that marks the policies and utterances of the central leaders who want to stampede every nationality into so-called 'unity of the people'. It is no wonder that the ABSU (All Bodo Students Union) and the Bodo Peoples' Action Committee (BPAC) were the first to warn against any accord that the centre might sign with the ULFA without taking into account the demands of the uibals. The two organisations have been spearheading an agitation demanding a separate state comprising Bodo-dominated areas in Assam.