Quite disappointing
Two top self-styled commanders of banned NLFT insurgent outfit arrested in Tripura
The Tripura Police on Thursday arrested two self-styled commanders of the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura’s (NLFT) Biswamohan faction from Simna, a tribal majority village adjoining the Indo-Bangla international border in West Tripura.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, a senior official of Tripura Police informed that two NLFT leaders, who served in top military and political positions of the banned insurgent outfit, were nabbed right after they illegally crossed into the Indian territory through Simna area today evening.
“The duo was arrested in Bangladesh around 5 years back. Since then, they were in hiding. Recently, we received a tip-off. The arrested Sachin’s house is in Sidhai area, while Omthai resides in Champahower of Khowai district. They were arrested from the Simna area around 7:30 pm this evening”, the official said.
The arrested duo were identified as Sachin Debbarma (52), who served as the self-styled Chief of Army Staff of NLFT and Utpal Debbarma alias D Omthai (55), who served as the self-styled secretary general of the outfit.
As per latest inputs, both the insurgents were taken for interrogation to a secure site of the state police, where they would be held till Friday, when both are expected to be produced before a judicial magistrate’s court.
While details of their crimes are still being compiled, preliminary investigation suggests they have several warrants pending and at least 10 cases against them under various sections of the law including sedition, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, extortion etc.
The operation was carried out following inputs from the Tripura Police Special Branch, who tracked them from Bangladesh. A large contingent of officials and personnel from the West Tripura district police laid ambush in the area throughout the day and caught both the ultras after they crossed into the Indian territory through Simna.
“Our anti-insurgency operations based on intelligence and inter-agency coordination have been more successful than previous years, and have seriously dented the insurgent group. With this, we have so far arrested or facilitated the surrender of over 24 NLFT (BM) leaders and cadres in the last one-and-a-half years,” the official informed.
He added that a series of sustained efforts to finish off the remainder of followers of the insurgent group will continue.
Though insurgent activities have come down in Tripura in the last few years, a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was killed in an ambush from across the Indo-Bangla border in North Tripura district – one of the major incidents among recent border attacks in Tripura, wherein a team of banned insurgents opened fire on the security personnel in August 19 last year.
53-year old Head Constable Girjesh Kumar Uddey from Madhya Pradesh was killed in the attack at Shimnapur in Damcherra near the remote Khantalang Border Out Post (BOP), which is a tri-junction of Tripura, Mizoram and Bangladesh.
The insurgents, who were on Bangladesh soil, did not try to enter the Indian territory, rather they laid an ambush targeting a team of security personnel deployed in the area.
Meanwhile, six NLFT cadres of the outfit’s Biswamohan faction had surrendered before BSF on June 3 this year. Soon after, five NLFT insurgents fled their hideouts in Bangladesh, crossed the international border and surrendered during a joint operation of the Special Branch and the district team of the Tripura Police in the state’s Dhalai district on August 18.
Frustrated over under development and amid a growing sense of alienation, a section of tribal youths took up arms and armed insurgency began in Tripura in the late 1980s. Although armed struggle in the state dates back to 1967 with Sengkrak — a small outfit which took up arms — the thick of insurgency came in the late ’80s when a series of insurgent groups rose, including the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), now defunct All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), ATPLO etc., most of which are now defunct except a small faction of NLFT, which is claimed to be active beyond the clutches of Indian authorities in Bangladesh. Insurgency largely came down during the erstwhile Left Front government’s rule with lucrative offers of instant grant of Rs 1.5 lakh, vocational training and Rs 2,000 stipend, among other doles.
The incumbent BJP-IPFT government dealt one of the major blows to the already waning insurgency in 2019, when over 80 cadres of NLFT’s surviving Biswamohan Debbarma faction laid down arms.
Tripura has a 856-km long international border with Bangladesh, parts of which are still unfenced owing to local disputes.
Debraj Deb – 2023-12-14 23:19