Tripura: Surrendered militants call off strike after govt assurance

SUrrendered members of the prohibited activist groups subject release face of Tripura (NLFT) and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) on Friday evening called off a 72-hour strike that they had launched across parts of Tripura, alleging that the Centre and the state government had failed to implement rehabilitation measures promised under a peace accord signed nearly two years ago.The decision came after Tribal Welfare Minister Bikash Debbarma and other administrative officials assured the protesters that their demands would be looked into. Following the assurance, the protesters withdrew their strike.The agitators blocked sections of the national highway and railway tracks in Khowai district, demanding implementation of the ₹250-crore rehabilitation package announced as part of the quadripartite agreement signed in New Delhi under the leadership of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. So far, there have been no reports of any untoward incidents.The agreement was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Manik Saha, BJP ally TIPRA Motha founder Pradyot Kishore Debbarma and officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs on September 4, 2024. As per the agreement, the Centre sanctioned a ₹250-crore package for the rehabilitation of the rebels.“An accord was signed on September 4 in 2024 that promised the Tiprasas a package of ₹250 crores for their rehabilitation. Nearly two years passed of signing the agreement, nothing from the accord has been implemented. We have written to central and state government several times to look into the issue, but we didn’t get any reply. In protest of it, we are holding the 72 hours strike from today (Friday),” a protester said.The protesters said they had written to the chief minister, chief secretary, home secretary, Tribal Welfare minister and Tribal Welfare secretary, seeking the fulfilment of their demands, but received no response. They also held a meeting with Tribal Welfare Minister Bikash Debbarma on Thursday, but the talks failed to yield any concrete outcome, prompting them to go ahead with the 72-hour strike.At least 584 militants of the NLFT and ATTF returned to the mainstream after shunning the path of violence in September 2024, three weeks after the central government signed a quadripartite memorandum of settlement with the Tripura government and the two militant groups.The militants from three NLFT factions, headed by NLFT supremos Biswamohan Debbarma, Parimal Debbarma and Prasenjit Debbarma, and ATTF president Alendra Debbarma, surrendered their arms before the Tripura government at the Tripura State Rifles’ 7th Battalion headquarters at Jampuijala, nearly 40 kilometres from Agartala.Tripura witnessed a series of bloodshed incidents involving several banned militant outfits, including the NLFT and ATTF, from the 1980s to the early 2000s.Formed on March 12, 1989, the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) was founded by Dhananjoy Reang, a former insurgent leader of the Tripura National Volunteers (TNV), which laid down arms in 1988 following a peace accord signed between then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and TNV chief Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl. A few years later, leadership of the NLFT passed to Nayanbasi Jamatia.Riddled with factional feuds like most insurgent outfits in the region, the NLFT’s leadership eventually passed to Biswamohan Debbarma after Nayanbasi, who was removed from the outfit, went on to form another group called the Tripura Resurrection Army before surrendering along with his cadres soon afterwards.Much like the NLFT, the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), another dreaded insurgent outfit of Tripura, was also founded by former members of the Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl-led TNV in July 1990.Initially formed as the All Tripura Tribal Force, the outfit was renamed the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) in 1992, with Ranjit Debbarma as its supremo. It had broken away from a faction of the Tripura National Volunteers (TNV) led by self-styled commander Lalit Debbarma, which surrendered under the 1988 TNV peace accord.The Government of India declared the NLFT and ATTF outlawed insurgent outfits in 1997 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, citing their involvement in terrorist and subversive activities. The outfits were also banned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), 2002.