Decks to free some top jailed leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in Assam for holding peace talks could be cleared with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi Thursday.
 
An Assam government spokesman said the chief minister will formally seek the central government's clearance on demands by the ULFA for releasing at least four of its jailed leaders.

Last week the outlawed group, which has been battling for an independent homeland in Assam since 1979, demanded the release of four jailed leaders as a precondition to holding talks with the government.

Gogoi had earlier announced his government was ready to "walk the extra mile" to facilitate talks with the ULFA.

"We are ready to accept ULFA's demand if that helps in bringing peace and facilitating holding of talks," he had told journalists Wednesday before leaving for New Delhi.

The centre has formally invited the ULFA for talks aimed at ending years of deadly insurgency in the region. 

"We require at least 10 members of our central committee to discuss New Delhi's offer for holding talks. Right now only six members are free and the rest are in jail," ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah said in a statement.

The chief minister is also expected to meet National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, the central government's peace emissary currently liaising with the ULFA for talks through noted Assamese writer Indira Goswami. 

Goswami has been sought by the ULFA to mediate for peace talks with the central government.  The chief minister's meeting with the prime minister and the National Security Adviser assumes significance as this could change the insurgency scene in the region.

"If the government agrees to free the jailed ULFA leaders, the rebel leadership will be forced to come out and hold talks. If the ULFA decides to backtrack once their leaders are freed, the outfit will lose whatever public sympathy it has," an analyst said. 

"It will be a win-win situation for the government to concede the ULFA's preconditions and make them come for talks."

In 1992, a group of five senior jailed ULFA leaders were freed and taken to New Delhi for initiating talks with then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. 

"The ULFA leaders then jumped parole and went underground once again with the talks failing at that point of time," a senior Assam police official said.