Thursday, August 17 2006 11:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Guwahati: The Peoples' Consultative Group yesterday (Aug 16, 2006) hoped the suspension of Army operations in the state would facilitate direct talks between the Centre and the ULFA which appointed it to carry on talks.

Welcoming the suspension of Army operations against the ULFA cadres, PCG spokesman Arup Borbora said here, ''One good gesture begets another good gesture and this was evident in the last two days with an incident free Independence Day''.

"The PCG has urged the ULFA to reciprocate the gesture and so 'there will be no reason why direct talks cannot be held between the two parties,'' he said.

''Now it remains to be seen what the Centre does about the release of the outfit's five arrested central executive leaders and their release will expedite the peace process further,'' Borbora said.

"The PCG's role is to bring the two parties in conflict together for direct talks and at this juncture everything is moving in the right direction," he said.

The PCG spokesman also said that they hoped for morepositive developments in the next few days.



The Centre had announced the temporary suspension of Army operations in Assam on Sunday and the ULFA is yet to react on this development.