Agartala: Around 500 militants belonging to four key factions of the two active rebel outfits—National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF)—joined the mainstream life on Tuesday in presence of Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha.
The official ceremony was organised at the headquarters of 7th Battalion Tripura State Rifle (TSR) located at Jampuijala in Sepahijala district.
Top officials of Tripura Police, BSF and other sister agencies who played an instrumental role in getting the peace deal sealed attended the event.
Cadres from all militant outfits, some with their families, entered the highly secured compound crossing a multi-layer security check and verification process. The arms and ammunition which were once used by the cadres for waging the armed rebellion against the state were also on display.
The senior leaders of both the outfits handed over their arms to Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha as a mark of their consensus to join the normal life. The ceremony was an outcome of the memorandum of resettlement signed on September 04 last at New Delhi.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha asserted that with the success of this peace agreement, Tripura is now an insurgency-free state.
“We want peace and tranquillity in our state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have taken significant steps to bring peace in the North East. On September 04, a peace agreement was signed and today all the cadres of these groups have joined mainstream life. Peace is the biggest precondition for development. And, any sort of armed struggle is detrimental to development,” said Dr Saha.
According to the Chief Minister, more than 10,000 people who were misguided towards the insurgent movement had been brought to normal life in the North East through as many as 12 peace accords. “I extend my greetings to those who had spent their lives in harsh conditions for joining the normal life,” he added.
Speaking to media persons after the ceremony, NLFT BM faction Chief Biswamohan Debbarma said, “We are very happy to be here. An accord was signed on September 04 with the Government of India and Government of Tripura based on which this ceremony was organised. This is a new beginning for us.”
Debbarma who was flanked by all major functionaries of his group such as Vice President Chakao Hrangkhwal, Secretary General, and secretaries responsible for different functions of the armed group also thanked Union Home Minister Amit Shah for welcoming them for talks.
“Everything has an expiry date. We started our struggle 35 years ago and now we are concluding it. The Government of India has accepted us and heard our concerns,” he added.
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According to the self-styled militant leader, the total number of cadres belonging to the faction led by him would be 380. “A total of four groups are joining the mainstream here. My group alone has 380 cadres. The attendance is less as they couldn’t come to attend the function,” he added.
Self-proclaimed supremo of NLFT (ORI) faction Prasenjit Tripura on the other hand recalled how he had joined armed struggle back in 2005 after being insisted on by Nayanbasi Jamatia, one of the top NLFT leaders who surrendered before police in 2013. “Nayanbasi Jamatia, the then chief of NLFT, invited me in 2005. When I reached there to meet him, he didn’t allow me to leave. Due to his insistence I stayed with the organisation and later became the chief of it.” A total of 100 cadres from his group also surrendered their arms. “Some of our cadres are stuck in Bangladesh. They are safe but couldn’t cross over the borders because of communication gaps due to the recent unrest in the neighbouring country. Now, we have finally reconnected with them. They will be arriving soon,” he added. On being asked about the next course of action, he said, “Rs 250 crore economic package is already announced. We have some other demands that would be raised when the Joint Working Group will be constituted for having talks with our leaders.” He also expressed his aspiration to join mainstream politics.
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