All Adivasi National Liberation Army

Formation and Objectives

The All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA) was formed in the second half of 2006.

The AANLA claims to be fighting to safeguard the tribal culture of the plantation workers whose ancestors were brought from northern India by British colonialists. The outfit demands Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Adivasi community and rehabilitation of the displaced members of its community. Official sources, however, indicate that AANLA is not a well-organised group and it does not have well-thought out aims and objectives.

Area of Operation

The Golaghat and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam are the primary area of operation for the outfit. Few arrests of the AANLA cadres have also been reported from the western Assam district of Kokrajhar and the Dimapur city of Nagaland.

Leadership

The AANLA is headed by its chief commander David Tirkey alias Nirmal. Tirkey as per intelligence reports in Decmber 2007 is believed to be located in Jharkhand. A senior leader of the outfit Bikash alias Raj Munda was arrested in Guwahati on Decmber 10, 2007. Another senior leader Rupen Lakra was arrested on January 8, 2008 from Baghjan in the Karbi Anglong district. Prem Kawar is the Karbi Anglong District chief of the outfit.

The outfit has an estimated cadre strength of 100. The armed cadres of the outfit, however, are not believed to be more than 20. Weapons available with the outfit include AK series Rifles, carbines, pistols, .38 revolvers, grenade launchers, SLRs etc. The outfit is also believed to be in possesion of sophisticated explosive material. Some of the AANLA cadres have also been trained to assemble improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Funding

The outfit primarily targets the tea gardens of the Golaghat and Karbi Anglong districts for extortion. It abducts estate managers in the event of non-payment of its demand. Few activities of extortion by AANLA cadres have also been reported from the Tinsukia district.The outfit reportedly shares a portion of the extorted amount with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the NSCN-IM.

Linkages

Police sources have indicated that the ULFA played a significant role in its formation. The National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), too, shares strategic linkages with the outfit.

The AANLA also has operational linkages with the Manipur-based Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA). The KRA has provided training and logistic support to the AANLA. KRA’s training camp at Singhasan in the Karbi Anglong district has reportedly been used for training the AANLA militants. KRA reportedly charges INR 5000 per month per head to train AANLA cadres. It also sells arms and ammunition to the AANLA.

Incidents

2008

August 28: 39 militants, including 31 cadres of the '709 and 27 battalions' of the ULFA, surrender before the Army at the headquarters of the 21 Mountain Division at Rangia , about 45 kilometres from Guwahati. The others included five KLNLF cadres and cadres from the AANLA. The surrendered militants deposited a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including pistols, revolvers, grenades, detonators and gelatine sticks. During the time of their surrender, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (central-western range) G.P. Singh said the police have established contact with the leaders of the '709 and 27 battalions', who are expected to declare a cease-fire soon. Meanwhile, the General Officer Commanding the 21 Mountain Division, Major General Chander Prakash, stated that widespread disillusionment in ranks of the ULFA had led to several rounds of recent surrender by the ULFA cadres.

July 8: Three AANLA militants, including a woman, are arrested by Bokajan police from Baghjan. They are identified as Arti Kujur, Madan Karmakar and Jamal Ali. Arti is involved in the Rajdhani Express bomb blast in early 2008.

June 8: Army arrested two AANLA militants, identified as Ranjan Murmu and Janu Soren, with a cache of arms and ammunition from Gurufella under Kachugaon Police Station in the Kokrajhar district.

April 22 : Eight militants belonging to the KLNLF and AANLA give up arms in a surrender ceremony held at the Circuit House in Diphu in the Karbi Anglong district.

April 2: The report of the judicial inquiry headed by Justice (retd) R. K. Manisana Singh which is tabled in the Assam Legislative Assembly states that the AANLA incited a section of the protestors to assault residents and damage vehicles, roadside shops and houses in Beltola in Guwahati on November 24. The Manisana Singh report confirms that some of the protestors came with weapons at the behest of the AANLA leadership. Witnesses were quoted as saying that an AANLA leader, Bikash Munda, gave INR 20,000 to a senior functionary of the All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam to organise the rally for Scheduled Tribe status. "There was, prima facie, a case of conspiracy among some of the Adivasis at the instigation of the ANLA," Manisana Singh says in his report. The judicial inquiry reveals that administrative ineptness was also responsible for the November 24 Adivasi protest march turning into the worst instance of street rioting in Assam.

March 18: An expert in guerrilla warfare from Jharkhand, Ahin Beltapu, was arrested along with five AANLA cadres, including a woman, from a hideout in Chekta Basti near Chokihola inside the jungles of Karbi Anglong district. Other AANLA militants arrested along with Beltapu were identified as Rajesh Singh alias Ranjit Karket, Dilip Toppo, Sunil Modi, Mirmashi Toppo and Jayanti Karkate, are from different parts of Karbi Anglong and Golaghat districts.

March 3: Army personnel arrested one AANLA militant, Puneswar Kurmi, from Belengbari under Mathurapur police station in the Sibsagar district. Seven live bullets of AK-47 were recovered from his possession.

February 8: Assam Tribune reported that the Army arrested one AANLA cadre, Babulal Panna, on an unspecified date from Daluabari village under Kokrajhar police station in the Kokrajhar district. They also recovered one US made pistol from his possession and seven rounds of live ammunition from him.

January 30: Security forces arrested a militant belonging to the AANLA, Sabilal Sahu, at Molesbasti under the Bakalia Police station in the Karbi Anglong district, according to Assam Tribune. A 9 mm pistol was also recovered from his possession.

January 10: Rupen Lakra, the AANLA leader, who was arrested by the police on January 8-night, reportedly admitted that the cache of arms and ammunition that was dug up from a paddy field after his arrest came from the National Socialist Council of Nagaland - Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM). Lakra told interrogators that the ANLA ‘commander-in-chief’ David Tirkey struck the arms deal a few months ago when he was in Dimapur in the guise of a pastor.

January 8: Police arrested a top leader of the AANLA, identified as Rupen Lakra, at Baghjan in the Bokajan town of Karbi Anglong district and recovered a huge cache of arms and explosives.

2007

December 27: Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, stated that the AANLA is being supported by the NSCN-IM.

December 25: Five AANLA militants, Akash Tirkey alias Danial Ekka, self-styled area commander, Dhoni Oraon, Chandan Bhumij, Thomas Kerketta, and Samanan Tati alias Raju Tati, are arrested. They confessed that the NSCN-IM and KRA are providing training and arms and ammunition to them.

December 21: Two AANLA militants, identified as Putul Munda and Arjun Karmakar, are killed during a fratricidal killing in the Karbi Anglong district. Their bodies were recovered from Bokajan-Hidipi road. They were killed "as punishment" by the AANLA for failing to deposit with the outfit the extortion money they had extracted.

December 13: Five people were killed and four others injured in a bomb blast carried out by suspected AANLA militants in a Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express train in Assam's Golaghat district. The explosion, which occurred between Naujan and Sugajan, destroyed the luggage van of the train and a small portion of the railway track as well.

December 9: Police arrested seven cadres of the AANLA from different parts of the Guwahati city.

December 7: Suspected AANLA militants shot at and wounded Hem Chetri, the driver of an Arunachal Pradesh-bound oil tanker, while targeting his vehicle at Rangapara railway level-crossing under Rangapara police station in the Sonitpur district.

December 4: The locomotive and two sleeper coaches of the Kamrup Express were partially damaged in a bomb blast on the tracks between Bokajan and Khatkhati stations in the Karbi Anglong district by the AANLA.

November 2: An assistant manager of the Orang tea estate in the Udalguri district is abducted by a joint team of the suspected militants of the ULFA and AANLA.

September 14: Two AANLA militants were killed by police in an encounter at Males basti under Howraghat police station in the Karbi Anglong district where they had come to extort money from a businessman. One 9mm pistol and six rounds live ammunition were recovered from the slain militants.

August 22: An AANLA cadre, identified as Soha Baski, was arrested from the Gossaigaon area of Kokrajhar district. One revolver, three Chinese grenades, four detonators and two IED circuits were recovered from his possession.

August 9: An abducted tea executive was set free by suspected AANLA militants. Anniruddha Tanti, the abducted tea executive, from Hirajuli Tea Estate under Dhekiajuli Police Station in Sonitpur district was found near a roadside eatery at Udalguri town in the neighbouring Udalguri district of northern Assam.

August 7: One woman was shot dead by AANLA militants at Jafarajan Chariali under Bokajan police station in the Karbi Anglong district.

July 23: One unidentified AANLA cadre was killed in an encounter with the police near Neparpatty Ghat under Sarupathar police station in the Golaghat district. One AK Rifle along with one magazine, eight rounds of live ammunition was recovered from him.

July 9: Police arrested four suspected AANLA cadres, Ajit Toppo alias Boga, Asao Bardhia, Linus Milj and Ganesh Rama, along with one Italian made 9-mm pistol and 10 rounds of ammunition from Bimalapur under Borhat police station in the Sivasagar district.

July 3: Six AANLA militants, including a woman, were arrested from Silanijan in the Golaghat district. They were reportedly on their way from Jaborijan, under Bokajan police station in neighbouring Karbi Anglong district, to Golaghat town for the treatment of two cadres who were suffering from malaria.

March 4: Two AANLA cadres were killed in an encounter with the police at Nalanipathar under Sarupathar police station in the Golaghat district while two others were arrested. Two AK-47 rifles were recovered from the arrested militants.

2006

October 5: Police at Dimapur in Nagaland neutralised two militant hideouts and arrested one AANLA militant and four KRA cadres from different areas.