People's Democracy

TRIPURA

Security Forces Nab Hardcore Terrorists

EVEN as the outlawed extremists go on striking at peace, progress and public security in Tripura, the state’s security forces have scored some spectacular successes in nabbing certain hardcore extremists. Even the neighbouring Bangladesh territory has ceased to be as safe as sanctuary as it has been so far, to the outlawed extremists of Tripura. Bangladesh mercenary miscreants have, however, been acting as accessories of extremist atrocities in the state’s areas along Indo-Bangladesh border.

Acting on a tip-off, a police contingent from Jirania police station, West Tripura district, effected a pre-dawn swoop on the quarters complex of the headquarters of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (ADC) at Khumulawng, and arrested a notorious NLFT extremist on May 18. He had played a leading role in numerous extremist atrocities in the recent past. The arrest of such a notorious extremist vindicated the long-time allegation that the ADC headquarters are harbouring the NLFT extremists with the connivance of ADC authorities.

In an extremist strike on May 20, at about 1 p m, four persons including a PWD SDO were kidnapped by the extremists. At that time the engineer, along with two contractors and a PWD work assistant, had gone to inspect a bridge under construction near Kalyanpur of Khowai subdivision, West Tripura. The extremists could not, however, kidnap the work assistant. CRPF jawans launched a combing operation under the guidance of the superintendent of police, the subdivisional police officer and the officer-in-charge of Kalyanpur police station to recover the kidnapped.

In a separate incident, Bangladeshi miscreants kidnapped a 24 years old young man whose mother happens to a CPI(M) panchayat member of Baruakandi village in North Tripura, bordering Bangladesh. The miscreants had crossed over the border in broad daylight and kidnapped the young man at about 9.00 a m when he was engaged in agricultural work on the land along with four others including his uncle. The top police officers of the subdivision, panchayat minister Subodh Das and CPI(M) divisional leader Chayan Bhattacharjee rushed to the village immediately after getting information about the incident, and reached the police station of the subdivisional town Dharmanagar at about 10.00 a m. According to the villagers certain BSF jawans from the BSF check post, situated about a kilometre away, had patrolled the same spot a short while before the incident. The police authorities later assured the villagers that a camp of Special Police Officers (SPOs) would be set up in the village within the next few days.

Meanwhile, in a series of successful encounters by the police and TSR jawans, two NLFT extremists were injured and arrested in the wee hours of May 18 at the Srinagar police station areas under Bishalgarh subdivision, West Tripura. On the same day the TSR jawans also arrested two other NLFT extremists alongwith a grenade, Rs 2000 worth of Bangladesh currency and some incriminating documents from the Champahour police station area under Khowai subdivision.

In a major setback suffered by the NLFT extremists sheltered in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Police arrested nine NLFT extremists on May 15 on their way from Kasba to Brahmanbaria, both bordering Tripura. They were travelling in a Bangladesh registered minibus whose driver and his assistant too were arrested at the same time. The arrested were interrogated by the Bangladesh Police and sleuths. Incidentally, the NLFT extremists recently set up a camp at Brahmanbaria with the assistance of Islamic fundamentalists thriving in Bangladesh at present. The Left Front government of Tripura had submitted to the centre a list of 51 camps of the outlawed extremists of Tripura in Bangladesh territory, alongwith all sorts of specific details. Trans-border terrorism has been taking a heavy toll on peace, progress and public security in landlocked Tripura, not to speak of the life of hundreds of CPI(M) leaders, activists and supporters who are being killed by extremists statewide over the past few years. (INN)