Home Ministry sources said after the surrender of 51 United Liberation Front of Assam militants on July 24, another 130 have lined up to surrender to the security forces at a ceremony in Riyang tomorrow. Unlike the first lot, only a few of those surrendering tomorrow may get a chance to fight for the Government.

The issue figured in the meeting on Monday between an Assam delegation led by Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and Home Minister L K Advani. The Home Ministry agreed `in principle' to recruit all 51 surrendered ULFA militants into the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) or the Border Security Force (BSF).

The experiment of recruiting reformed militants has been tried out in Jammu and Kashmir, where they make up at least two battalions of regular para-military forces. But Home Ministryofficials now say that offering militants jobs in the CRPF or the BSF may not be a good idea in the long run unless it was part of a `final settlement' with a militant group.

Officials maintain the Central forces will not be able to accommodate all the surrendered militants if a `job-in-the-forces' bait was offered as a matter of policy. Since unemployment was one of the causes for militancy, a general offer will also lead to some youth actually taking to militancy -- if only with the idea of quitting it later for a job in the government forces.

Officials also make clear that most of the first batch of surrendered ULFA members may not be posted in Assam, but deployed in fighting militancy elsewhere.

Interestingly, the day after the Mahanta-Advani meeting where the Centre agreed to induct the first batch of surrendered ULFA members into para-military forces, Mahanta was presented with the draft of a `rehabilitation scheme' which does not offer job guarantees.

The draft scheme says the Government willset up rehabilitation camps for surrendered ULFA members. The private sector may also be invited to provide vocational training for the reformed militants at the camps. Some of the surrendered insurgents may find jobs in the security forces after their stint at the camps, but a majority will have to look for employment elsewhere.

The last surrender ceremony did not actually go down well with the state government. The militants surrendered in the presence of state Governor S K Sinha, while Mahanta was virtually ignored by the Army. Sources say he got his invitation ``at the last minute,'' and feeling snubbed, decided not to attend.

And ULFA added to the controversy by declaring that those who surrendered had been dismissed from the outfit or were `fakes.'

The Mahanta Government wants to be kept informed about Army initiatives, including planned mass surrenders. In its memorandum, the Mahanta delegation also complained that ``some quarters in Delhi'' were trying to deal with ethnic factions in the stateby going ``over the head of the state Government.''

Assuming that by this the Mahanta delegation meant talks with Bodo groups, Home Ministry officials maintain the negotiations were `tripartite,' with the Assam government being a part of them.

The Assam government also feels `discriminated' by the Centre in reimbursement of expenses borne by the state in fighting insurgency. Instead of bearing the entire security-related expenditure, the Centre has said it will pay according to guidelines which are about to be announced.

The Assam Government argues that Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, which faced a similar problem, got better deals. Assam has so far got about Rs 130 crore, but wants over Rs 500 crore.

But officials here say that states have a tendency of clubbing routine expenditure on maintaining law and order with the amount spent on fighting insurgency. Clear-cut guidelines are therefore needed, they point out.