People's Democracy

TERRORIST CAMPS IN BANGLADESH

Will B’Desh Govt Still Deny The Allegation?

SHEDDING spotlight on yet another hard evidence of rampant trans-border terrorism the ATTF and the NLFT, the two outlawed extremist organisations in landlocked Tripura, are carrying out from their sanctuaries in Bangladesh territory, the July 3 issue of mass circulation Bangladeshi dailies Janakantha and Jugantar splashed the news of arrest of 7 people by the Bangladesh police on June 30 night and July 1. These men, who included an ATTF extremist, were arrested from Satchhari in Habibganj district of Bangladesh, bordering Tripura, on charge of dispatching from there an unprecedentedly huge cache of extremely powerful explosives and bullets to Bagura district of Bangladesh on June 27.

Incidentally, last year, the December 4 and 5 issues of leading Bangladesh dailies had carried the news of a nocturnal, bloody gun battle on December 3 between two rival factions of the NLFT and the consequent death of a Bangladeshi woman in cross fire. As was reported at that time, including in this paper, this cross firing took place in Commilla district bordering Tripura, and was followed by the arrest of a fleeing NLFT extremist by the Bangladesh police when he was trying to sneak into Tripura early next morning.

On June 27 night, villagers of Kahalu sub-district in Bagura informed two police stations of the area that explosives and bullets were being secretly offloaded from a truck inside a brick-field in Jagarpara village of the sub-district. Ostensibly, the said truck was carrying a load of pineapples in order to deceive the police. However, the Bangladesh police arrived on the spot five hours later, with the result that by that time a large chunk of this deadly cache had already been removed from the truck. Yet the police was able to haul 62,100 bullets and 115 kg of explosives then and there. Over the next few days, the Bangladesh police and Bangladesh Rifles jointly conducted a search in several villages, leading to the seizure of another 27,000 rounds of live bullets and 48 kg of explosives from inside some people’s houses, some septic tanks, ponds and shrubs. From Satchhari and the adjoining Tiprapara of Habibganj district, the police arrested in this connection a total of 14 persons including an ATTF extremist and two persons of the same Tripuri tribal community. These arrests took place on the basis of startling revelations made by some of those arrested earlier. Those arrested also told the police that three Tripuris had amassed huge fortunes by smuggling arms and explosives from their rented house in Habibganj, in collusion with certain influential persons of the area, and also that these three persons and ATTF extremists used to carry out various extremist activities from there. They also had a hand in the murder of four Bangladesh citizens of the area due to the latter’s opposition to extremist atrocities and arms smuggling. The home of the arrested ATTF extremist is in Daptaripara under Sadar subdivision of West Tripura.

According to the home minister of Bangladesh, the total of 163 kg of explosives seized over those few days in Bagura was enough to blow half of the entire national capital Dhaka. The ruling Bangladesh National Party and opposition Awami League, which has however been boycotting the national parliament since the elections, are trading charges against each other in connection with the latest seizure of the cache of explosives and bullets.

Incidentally, on May 6 last, ATTF extremists infiltrated into Tripura from Satchhari and carried out the genocide of 21 people including women and children at Sidhai under Sadar subdivision of West Tripura. It will also be mentioned that the NLFT’s overground political wing --- the INPT --- is allied to the opposition Congress party in Tripura. Although the Left Front government has given, through the government of India, all the specific details about the extremists’ camps in Bangladesh territory from where the ATTF and NLFT men are carrying out trans-border terrorism, the Bangladesh government has so far been flatly denying such allegations.

In the meantime, the Workers Party of Bangladesh and some other parties have vociferously raised the demand that all the terrorist camps functioning on the country’s territory must be busted forthwith. (INN)