Coping with militancy

Escalating acts of violence by militant tribal groups in the hill districts of Tripura draw attention to the inadequate deployment of Central security forces in the region.

KALYAN CHAUDHURI

WITH militants on the rampage in the hilly interior areas of Tripura, the situation is becoming increasingly tense in one of the most volatile regions of northeastern India. Since mid-October, activists of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) have killed 34 persons, including two important functionaries of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and kidnapped 47 persons. In an ambush in Dhalai district on October 15, miltants killed two jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

The CPI(M) leaders who were killed, Ananda Mohan Roaja, 67, a tribal leader and a former MLA, and Shanti Kumar Tripura, 50, were members of the party's State Committee. Roaja was shot dead by NLFT militants at his Durgapur residence in the Gandachhara hill region of South Tripura on October 18. Three days earlier, NLFT extremists hacked Shanti Kumar to death outside his residence in Harimoni Roajapara village in Dhalai district.

SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY
Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

Official sources said that in the past three years at least 800 people, including State Health Minister Bimal Sinha and his brother, several leaders of the ruling CPI(M), and security personnel, have been killed and about 2,000 people abducted or taken hostage (many of them have not returned). Abductions continue as militants run a virtual parallel administration. On October 18, militants hacked a non-tribal person to death and killed three presons who were travelling in a Food Corporation of India truck.

Three persons were killed and seven injured when NLFT activists opened fire in the market at Dhumacherra in Dhalai district on October 19. After this they abducted a labourer, Badal Roy. The same day the NLFT released seven-year-old Keya Debnath, who had been abducted on October 7. A hefty ransom was paid for her release. Keya was abducted during a raid by militants on a house at Bagna in Udaipur. Six persons, including her mother were injured in the incident.

On October 20, NLFT activists abducted five passengers from a bus near Kusumbar in West Tripura. In a violent attack by militants in Dhalai district on November 4, six persons, including a nine-year-old girl, were killed. At least 18 non-tribal residents of villages, including two women and a child, were injured and five persons kidnapped by militants. An armed gang of 12 NLFT militants fired at a market at Maynama in North Tripura on November 3. Three persons, including Subodh Kuri, a trader who was a Bengali, were killed and 10 persons injured. The militants also kidnapped three residents of a village in the area. Another group of militants earlier raided the Madhya Barjala area in West Tripura. Nine-year-old Rupali Adhikary and Haradhan Debnath, another resident of the village, were shot dead and three persons injured. Militants kidnapped four residents of villages in the area. Rebel gunmen fired at a jeep at Baramura on the Assam-Agartala National Highway and killed a passenger, Jagadish Saha. Three passengers were injured and two abducted.

EXPRESSING concern over the escalating insurgency, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said that it was the outcome of the inadequate presence of security forces in the State. He added that although the Centre had acknowledged the need to send additional forces to the State, actual deployment had not been made.

Political parties in Tripura believe that the Centre is unconcerned about the present phase of extremist violence. There has been no scrutiny by the Centre of the continuing militancy by groups of tribal people even after the Disturbed Areas Act was invoked in the State in early 1997. The Centre has not made known the reasons for the delay in sending additional forces to Tripura.

Of the 22 police stations in the "disturbed" areas, only nine are under the Army's supervision. Five more police stations were partially brought under the Disturbed Areas Act early this year. Chief Secretary V. Tulsidas, who is also the head of the State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) on security affairs, said that the inadequate presence of security forces encouraged violence by militants, who sought to demonstrate their supremacy. He said that four companies of the Army, 16 companies of the Assam Rifles and 64 companies of the CRPF, including 14 for regular law and order duty, had been deployed in Tripura.

Tripura has requested the Centre to allow the Border Security Force (BSF) to join anti-insurgency operations in the State as was being done in Jammu and Kashmir. But the Centre has not cleared the proposal. According to Tulsidas, nine BSF batallions were not enough to guard the 839-km international border. A request had been made for seven more batallions of the Army and the Assam Rifles and 18 more BSF battalions. One battalion each of the Army and the Assam Rifles, which were withdrawn in February for election duty elsewhere, are yet to return.

The Left Front Government in Tripura has urged the Centre to persuade the militant organisations to reach a ceasefire agreement, as had been done in Nagaland, and prepare the ground for negotiations. The State Government has made it clear that it is the Centre's responsibility to open a dialogue with the militants. Tulsidas said that it may not be difficult to initiate the peace process as the NLFT had close links with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaac-Muivah), a group with which the Centre had started peace talks.

The NLFT has links also with the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the Bodo National Liberation Front (BNLF), both outlawed organisations. The ATTF is close to the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) of Manipur. Both the NLFT and the ATTF get sophisticated arms from other militant organisations in the region. The NLFT has better firepower than the ATTF. The NLFT has more than 1,200 members and the ATTF around 500 members.

The Chief Minister admitted that the situation in the interior areas of the State was grim. Outlawed organisations are running a parallel administration in the hill areas, where the development process has come to a standstill. Militant groups have stepped up extortion: government employees, businessmen, contractors, tribal and non-tribal people and tribal chieftains are forced to contribute funds to militant organisations.

A SPECIAL resolution on Tripura adopted at the 16th CPI(M) congress in Calcutta said: "The State Government is prepared to take any tough measure in the interest of ethnic harmony and regional integrity in view of Tripura's present situation." Party general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet said that "external forces" were directly backing insurgents in Tripura, posing a serious threat to stability and regional security. Earlier, the Chief Minister told the Assembly that the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States were helping the militants in the State.

The recent visit by a parliamentary team to the State has inspired Opposition parties such as the Congress(I)-Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti (TUJS) alliance, the Tripura National Volunteers (TNV) and the Bharatiya Janata Party to step up the demand for President's Rule in the State. Congress(I) leader Samir Ranjan Burman, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, said: "I would like to ask why President's Rule should not be imposed in Tripura at the earliest. The Centre took a similar measure in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir on the same grounds and the CPI(M) supported it unequivocally."

After touring Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura, the leader of the parliamentary team, S.P. Jain, said that the situation arising out of the insurgency in the northeastern region was "very alarming". The team will submit its report to the Centre soon so that the issue of security in the northeastern States can come up for discussion in the winter session of Parliament.

At its meeting in Shillong in October, the North-Eastern Council (NEC) urged the Centre to ensure that neighbouring countries did not allow the entry of militant groups into their territory for training and other purposes. Manik Sarkar moved a resolution to this effect and it was adopted unanimously. Expressing anxiety over escalating insurgency and ethnic unrest in the northeastern States, particularly Assam and Tripura, the NEC wanted the Centre to assess the security requirements in the insurgency-prone States and deploy additional Central forces to help them fight militancy. The NEC demanded that the Union Government make adequate funds available to the governments of these States in order to modernise the police force. The Centre was also urged to deploy additional BSF battalions to seal sections of the border with Bangladesh that were being used as a corridor by armed militant groups.

In a reversal of its earlier stand, the State Government has accepted the Centre's proposal to use stringent legal provisions to curb insurgency in Tripura. Members of the SLCC have come out with a statement that the security forces in Tripura are free to take action against insurgents and are legally empowered to do so. The members said: "The security forces, including the Army or the Assam Rifles, do not require instructions from the Chief Secretary to carry out specific operations."

The Centre has plans to raise 12 battalions of the Indian Reserve Police to tackle insurgency in the northeastern States. Four of the battalions will be for Assam, two each for Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh and one each for Meghalaya and Mizoram. The Centre's decision is the outcome of Union Home Secretary B.P. Singh's recent meeting with the Chief Secretaries and police chiefs of these States. The Centre has also decided to reimburse the expenses incurred by the northeastern States in combating insurgency. Accordingly, Assam will get Rs.79 crores, Tripura Rs.28 crores, Manipur Rs.26 crores and Nagaland Rs.22 crores.

The Tripura Government planned to adopt stringent measures to curb insurgency, but it would not oppose direct negotiations between any militant group and the Centre, the Chief Minister said. "We are prepared to extend all cooperation in this regard," he added.

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