|
| |
Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO)
Origin
The origin of the Kamtapur
Liberation Organisation (KLO) can be traced to the attempts of certain
members of the Rajbongshi community belonging to the all Kamtapur Students’
Union (AKSU) to organise an armed struggle for a separate Kamtapur State.
For this purpose, they approached the United Liberation Front of Asom
(ULFA). ULFA reportedly agreed to train them
in order to gain foothold outside Assam, in the other geographically
contiguous Indian States, to use them as transit routes. ULFA’s line
of thinking was that, it would not only facilitate the movement of its
cadres to their base camps in Bhutan but also provide a safe haven for
the injured or sick cadres.
The KLO came into existence
on December 28, 1995. At the time of its formation, its cadre strength
was an estimated 60. However, subsequently, it is said to be operating
with approximately 300 'active cadres'.
Objectives
The objective of the KLO
is to carve out a separate Kamtapur State comprising six districts––
Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North and South Dinajpur and Malda––of
West Bengal and four contiguous districts of Assam––Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon,
Dhubri and Goalpara. At its inception, the KLO was an over-ground organisation
and was formed to address problems such as large-scale unemployment,
land alienation, perceived neglect of Kamtapuri language and identity,
and grievances of economic deprivation. Soon, its strategy transformed
into waging armed struggle.
Leadership and organisation
Tamir Das alias Jibon Singha is the chairman of the
KLO. He was arrested in October 1999. However, he regained control over
the outfit after he was released by the Assam Police in a bid to make
the other KLO cadres surrender.
Milton Burman alias Mihir Das is the second in command
of the outfit. Tom Adhikary alias Joydeb Roy is the outfit's 'crack
squad' chief. Both of them were arrested by the RBA during the December
2003 operations.
Bharati Das, Chairperson of the Women's Wing, was
arrested from Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal on August 7, 2002.
The outfit's operations chief, Suresh Roy, surrendered
on January 24, 2002.
Some of the other prominent KLO insurgents who could
be in positions of decision-making are Hiten Roy, Ravi Rajbongshi, Rahul
Roy and Kajal Roy.
Area of Operation
The KLO is active in following
areas of West Bengal and Assam
West Bengal—six
districts of North Bengal
- South Dinajpur
- North Dinajpur
- Coochbehar
- Jalpaiguri
- Malda
- Darjeeling
Assam—four
districts of lower Assam
- Kokrajhar
- Bongaigaon
- Dhubri
- Goalpara
However, the outfit is
most active in Alipurduar in Jalpaiguri and the Shiliguri sub-division
of Darjeeling.
The KLO maintains a string
of camps in Bhutan. Several of its camps are located across the Wangchu
river, close to Chuka district in Bhutan. According to Lyonpo Thinley
Gyamtsho, the Bhutanese Home Minister, two of its camps are in the Bhangtar
and Lhamoizingkha areas of Bhutan.
Linkages
The KLO is alleged to be
the armed underground wing of Kamtapur People’s Party (KPP). Available
evidence suggests that it maintains close linkages with the ULFA. Soon
after its formation, its members were imparted arms training during
1996-97 in Samdrup Jhankar in Bhutan, and also subsequently at Gelengphu
and Kalaikhola. The KLO's headquarters is situated near that of ULFA's
at Samdrup Jhankar. Reports even suggest that the KLO is the brainchild
of Raju Baruah, ULFA's 'deputy commander'.
As mentioned already, the
ULFA wants to use West Bengal as a transit point to cross over to Bhutan,
and then into Bangladesh. Also, this area provides a safe haven for
injured and battle-weary ULFA cadres.
The outfit is also reportedly
linked to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
Media reports suggest that the KLO, ULFA and the NDFB have formed an
umbrella organisation to coordinate their activities. Moreover, the
KLO is also said to have linkages with the Maoist insurgents of Nepal.
An August 2001-report indicated that, a meeting of NDFB, KLO, ULFA and
the Maoists was held at Birganj, near the Indo-Nepal border, to discuss
a joint strategy to carry out subversive activities against India.
Besides these linkages,
the Tiwa National Revolutionary Front (TNRF), an insurgent outfit based
in the Nagaon district of Assam, also has a working relationship with
the KLO. In addition, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah
(NSCN-IM),
too, reportedly maintains links with the KLO.
Reports also suggest that
Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is assisting terrorist
groups, including the KLO, to commit subversion along the Siliguri Corridor
of West Bengal.
Major incidents
2008
-
April 30: A joint team of the Army and Assam Police
neutralised a ULFA transit camp at Bangshijhora hill in the Dhubri
district. An unnamed senior police officer said the camp was frequently
used by the ULFA, NDFB and KLO militants, since they have some common
areas of operation and used this vital transit camp not only for
shelter but also for ammunition supply. Ten rounds of live ammunition
of 12 bore pistols, seven rounds of 12 bore fired cases, eight live
and five spent rounds of ammunition of AK-47 rifles, 18 live and
seven spent rounds of .22 pistols, two blank detonators, 500 grams
of explosive, one improvised explosive device (IED), wires, one
7.62-mm magazine of LMG and one rotating block of AK-56 were seized
from the camp. A Global Positioning System device, a digital diary,
two blank extortion notes signed by the 'commandant of 709 battalion'
of the ULFA, Hira Saraniya, a Chinese camera, 20 kilograms of rice
and one kilogram of Bengal gram were also recovered.
-
April 26: An arms smuggler and a linkman of the
KLO, identified as Pradip Das alias Phagua, is arrested from his
house at Botun in Kumarganj of West Dinajpur district in West Bengal.
According to police sources, Das was regularly smuggling arms to
Bangladesh for the KLO and also helped the militants enter and leave
Bangladesh.
-
April 26: An arms smuggler and a linkman of the
KLO, identified as Pradip Das alias Phagua, is arrested from his
house at Botun in Kumarganj of West Dinajpur district in West Bengal.
Das was regularly smuggling arms to Bangladesh for the KLO and also
helped the militants enter and leave Bangladesh.
2007
-
July 27: Ramchandra Roy alias Rakesh, a Kamtapur
Liberation Organisation (KLO) militant, and Ajoy Singha, a linkman
of the outfit, are arrested from Samuktala in the Jalpaiguri district.
2006
-
December 25: A KLO militant, Swapan Rai alias Rahul
Rai, arrested from Tarchuk village by the Gouripur police, is remanded
to seven days police custody by the judicial magistrate in Dhubri
district.
-
November 21: Forensic experts and Police suspect
the involvement of the KLO along with ULFA in the November 20-bomb
blasts.
Central intelligence agencies say that the Jama'atul Mujahideen
Bangladesh (JMB) used the KLO to trigger the November 20-bomb blast.
-
November 20: At least 10 persons are killed and
50 injured in a bomb blast inside a compartment of the Haldibari-Siliguri
Passenger train at Belacoba station in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri
district. The KLO's involvement is suspected in the blast.
-
September 27: A KLO cadre, Ajit Adhikary, is arrested
by police from the Bhandijelas village in the Cooch Behar district
of West Bengal. The arrested militant was trained under outfit’s
chief, Jeevan Singha, in Bangladesh.
-
September 21: A new outfit, Darjeeling Gorkha Maobadi
Sangthan, has an operational alliance with the KLO, which is fighting
for a homeland for the Koch and Rajbongshi communities in North
Bengal.
-
August 10: The KLO along with MPLF, NLFT, TPDF and
ULFA in a joint statement call upon the people of the North East
region to boycott the Independence Day celebration and also jointly
call a 12-hour general strike.
-
May 29: Three KLO cadres, Nataraj,
Dilip and Manoj, are arrested from their hideout at Kharibari near
Siliguri in the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. According to
police sources, the three were arrested following the confession
of a ULFA cadre who was detained from the same locality on May 18.
-
May 24: Six KLO cadres are arrested
from different places in the Malda district of West Bengal. According
to police sources, one of the three, arrested from Kanturka village
under Habibpur police station, was involved in the murder of a CPI-M
leader about four months ago.
-
January 31: The six-month cease-fire
agreement earlier concluded between the Army authorities and eight
militant outfits, including the KLO, expires.
-
January 25: A hardcore KLO cadre, Bhabesh
Roy, is arrested along with seven linkmen of the outfit from Shamukhtala
in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district. Inspector General of Police
(North Bengal), Kishanlal Meena, said that Bhabesh was trained in
a militant training camp in Bangladesh’s Chattagram area and was
attached to the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF). The seven arrested
linkmen were allegedly working for the outfit in different areas
of North Bengal.
-
January 20: KLO calls for a general
strike on Republic Day (January 26) in the Northeastern States.
2005
-
December 21: Home Minister says that
there is a nexus between the Nepalese Maoists and the ULFA and KLO.
He however says that there has been no exchange of weapons between
them, though there are reports of training of each other's cadres.
There are also reports of some people being taken for training to
Nepal and vice versa.
-
April 29: A front-ranking KLO leader,
Pulasta Burman, is arrested from Changrabandha near the Bangladesh
border in the Coochbehar district of West Bengal. The Inspector-General
of Police (North Bengal), K. L. Meena, says that Burman was arrested
when he crossed over to Changrabandha village in the Mekhliganj
sub-division area. Burman, one of the founder-members of the outlawed
KLO, is also a close associate of the group’s chief, Jiban Singha.
Burman had been evading arrest for the last few years after having
managed to flee the Bhutan army's operation against KLO camps in
the country's jungles during December 2003 to Bangladesh.
-
March 9: Union Home Minister, Shivraj
Patil, speaking in the Upper House of Indian Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
says that ULFA and KLO have forged links with the Maoist insurgents
of Nepal.
-
January 20: ULFA, TPDF, KLO and MPLF
jointly appeal to the people of the North-east to boycott the Republic
Day celebrations on January 26 and call for a general strike on
that day.
2004
-
November 19: Three KLO linkmen are
arrested in connection with the killing of a driver from Siliguri
in the Jalpaiguri district.
-
October 28: Two KLO militants, Parimal
Basunia alias Pramod Das and Pahar Singh alias Batrish Das, are
arrested from Jalpaiguri district of North Bengal and in Guwahati
in Assam.
-
September 5: West Bengal Police arrests
seven KLO militants from Mathabhanga in the Coochbehar district.
They also recover two kilograms of RDX, four AK-56 rifles, 12 magazines,
496 rounds of ammunition of AK-56, two M-20 pistols, 21 rounds of
M-20 ammunition from their possession.
-
August 9: At least eight persons suspected
to have links with the KLO are arrested from different parts of
the Coochbehar district in West Bengal.
-
August 8: Security forces kill a KLO
cadre in an encounter at Boxirhat in the Dhubri district of Assam.
-
August 8: Border Security Force (BSF)
sources say that KLO has recruited 20 youths, mostly from the Rajbanshi-
dominated parts of Jalpaiguri district in North Bengal. BSF Inspector
General Sukhjinder Singh Sandhu was says that these youths were
being trained at an unknown location in Bangladesh.
-
August 6: Two suspected KLO cadres,
Goutam Shil alias Bibek Barman and Nimai Dutta alias Bimal Barman,
are beaten to death by villagers at Bazitchatra in the Cooch Behar
district.
-
March 13: KLO militants open indiscriminate
firing and kill two traders at Ranglajhar market under Moinagaon
police station in the Jalpaiguri district along the Assam-Bengal
border. Three others are injured in the firing.
-
February 24: A KLO cadre, Bhyamal Barman
alias Akshy Das, is arrested from Natabari village in the Coochbehar
district of West Bengal. He is reported to be a close associate
of KLO leader Tom Adhikari.
-
February 8: Two suspected KLO cadres
are arrested following raids at the Changimari and Pukari areas
of Kumaragram village in the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal.
Four AK-56 rifles and 170 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition are recovered
from them.
-
January 18: Cooch Behar Police arrest
three KLO linkmen from Buxirhat police station area on the charge
of sheltering terrorists.
-
January 18: North Bengal police intelligence
sources report that the fugitive KLO ‘commander-in-chief’ Jibon
Singha, now in Dhaka, is scheduled to meet the functionaries of
Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, ISI, in Bangladesh to seek
their help.
-
January 18: A KLO militant, identified
as Helatu Das, surrenders at the Kumargram police station in the
Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal.
-
January 17: West Bengal police arrests
eight linkmen (five from Falakata, two from Dhupguri and one from
Mainaguri) of the KLO in the Jalpaiguri district.
-
January 16: A relative of the West
Bengal Forest Minister Jogesh Burman, identified as Shyamal Roy,
is arrested at Jharbeltoli under Falakata Police Station in the
Jalpaiguri district for his alleged close links with the KLO. Police
sources say that Roy had given shelter to KLO cadres on several
occasions and has links with the outfit’s senior leaders like Tom
Adhikary, Milton Burman and Anirban Rava.
-
January 14: Suspected KLO militants
kill four civilians and injure several others in an attack on a
video parlour in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district.
-
January 11: A KLO linkman, Meghnath
Roy, is arrested from Shidhabari under Alipurduar police station
limits in the Jalpaiguri district.
-
January 2: A KLO militant is shot dead
during an encounter with the police in the Jalpaiguri district.
2003
-
December 29: Royal Bhutanese Army (RBA)
hands over 12 KLO cadres to the Indian Army. Jalpaiguri Divisional
Commissioner Balbir Ram says that the RBA handed over the cadres
at Binaguri cantonment in the Jalpaiguri district.
-
December 22: KLO in a press statement
released in the name of its ‘chairman’ Jibon Singha terms the military
offensive in Bhutan as unjustified. The statement says, "Bhutan
has inscribed the history of monumental betrayal by arresting and
extraditing our Central Committee members to India when they went
to negotiate with the authority of Bhutan in response to their invitation."
-
December 20: Top KLO leaders Tom Adhikari
and Milton Barman confess to the abduction and subsequent murder
of timber merchant Naresh Das from Kumargram in the Jalpaiguri district
of West Bengal in year 1998 in collaboration with the ULFA.
-
December 20: The 48-hour bandh (shutdown)
called by the KLO, ULFA and NDFB evokes a mixed response and partially
affects life in Assam. It was called in protest against the crackdown
launched by the RBA on their camps in Bhutan.
-
December 18: Reports suggest that KLO
chief Jibon Singha has been killed in the anti-insurgency operations
in Bhutan.
-
December 17: KLO senior leaders, Milton Burman and Tom Adhikary,
are arrested by the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) during operations against
Indian terrorists based in Bhutanese territory.
-
December 3: Security forces recover the body of a surrendered KLO
cadre from Balapasa near the Assam-Bengal border.
-
November 1: The Jalpaiguri district police in North Bengal kill
two suspected KLO terrorists inside the Buxa Tiger Reserve near
the Indo- Bhutan border. Two AK-56 rifles and 59 rounds of ammunition
are recovered from the incident site.
- August 6: Northeast terrorist groups
including ULFA, NDFB, NLFT and KLO call for the boycott of Independence
Day (August 15) celebrations.
- July 23: Media reports say that the
81st National Assembly of Bhutan adopted a resolution for
‘the last attempt’ to persuade ULFA, NDFB and the KLO to close down
their camps within this year ‘peacefully’ failing which terrorists
would face ‘military action’.
- May 9: Chief of the Indian Army, General
N C Vij discusses the activities of ULFA, NDFB and KLO with the Bhutanese
authorities.
- May 3: Report indicates that the Bhutanese
Government has asked Indian terrorist groups, including NDFB and ULFA
and the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO),
operating in parts of Assam and West Bengal to leave by June 15.
- February 15: Two KLO terrorists are
killed in an encounter at Kherabari, Gossaigaon police station limits,
Kokrajhar district.
2002
-
December 5: A
KLO terrorist is arrested in Siliguri, West Bengal, while returning
to India from Nepal.
-
November 18: Two
KLO terrorists are arrested from a place under Bakshirhat police
station-limits, Cooch Behar district of West Bengal.
-
October 11: Terrorists
of the KLO kill a leader of the Democratic Youth Federation of India
(DYFI) in Bankachumari, Haat, Jalpaiguri district.
-
October 9: Two
terrorists of the KLO and a security force personnel are killed
in an encounter at Punki village, Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal.
-
October 1: A
KLO terrorist, who had received arms training in Bhutan, is arrested
from Baxirhat, Cooch Behar district, in West Bengal.
-
August 31: Two
KLO terrorists are killed in an encounter at Beltoli village, Cooch
Behar district, West Bengal.
West Bengal police arrest a timber
dealer in Takura forests of Haldibari, Cooch Behar district, for
allegedly supplying arms to KLO terrorists.
- August 29: A KLO terrorist is arrested
from his Nazijote hideout in West Bengal’s Siliguri district.
- August 28: A front-ranking terrorist
of the KLO, Rohini Adhikari, allegedly involved in the August 17-Dhuppuri
massacre, is killed in an encounter in Hamuktala, Jalpaiguri district,
West Bengal
- August 26: Six persons, including an
employee of the Cooch Behar district collectorate, is arrested in
the district for alleged links with the KLO.
- August 24: Inspector General of Police
(IGP) (North Bengal) Bhupinder Singh says terrorists belonging to
the ULFA and KLO have jointly carried out the August 17-terrorist
attack in Dhupguri,
- August 17: Terrorists of the KLO kill
five activists of the Communist Party of India––Marxist [CPI-M] and
injure 14 others at its local office in Dhupguri town, Jalpaiguri
district in West Bengal.
- August 5: Three KLO terrorists, including
its women’s wing chief Bharati Das, are arrested from Shaltali village,
Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal.
- May 26: Six Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF) personnel are injured in a landmine blast triggered by terrorists
of the KLO at Kajulibasti, near the India-Bhutan border, Jalpaiguri
district in West Bengal.
- May 24: Two KLO terrorists are killed
and a police is personnel injured in an encounter in Dhumpara forests,
Jalpaiguri district in North Bengal.
- May 14: A KLO terrorist is killed in
an encounter near Siliguri in West Bengal. Two more terrorists manage
to escape.
- January 31: Speaking at the Assam State
conference of the CPI-M in Guwahati, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharya accuses the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan
of backing terrorist outfits like the KLO to engage in subversive
activities in the region.
2001
- October 22: Terrorists of the KLO kill
a leader of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) in Madhya Haldibari
village, Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal.
- October 4: Union Ministry of Home affairs
convenes a joint meeting of officials from Assam and West Bengal to
review threats emanating from the increasing nexus between the ULFA
and the KLO.
- July 22: Bomb explosion is reported
at the Jalpaiguri railway station
- July 19: Speaking in the West Bengal
State Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee
says the KLO is receiving arms training from the ULFA, and if they
join with the Maoists in Nepal, a deadly situation could arise in
North Bengal.
- July 15: Buddhadeb Bhattacharya says
the State government is prepared to talk on development issues in
North Bengal with the KPP if it leaves the path of militancy and gives
up its links with the KLO. He criticises the KLO for extorting money
in North Bengal for use by the KPP and for its linkages with the ULFA.
2000
- October: A joint team of KLO and ULFA
terrorists abduct a tea garden owner.
- August 7: KLO terrorists kill a local
leader of the CPI-M in Jalpaiguri.
- May 4: Terrorists of the KLO kill a
local leader of the CPI-M at Ghogsapara, near the Assam-West Bengal
border.
1999
- November: KLO and ULFA terrorists loot
a railway cash counter near Siliguri
- July 1999: In the first reported KLO-ULFA
joint-armed operation, a tea garden owner is abducted from the Latabari
tea estate, Dooars region, North Bengal Also, it is the first time
that militants in north Bengal have used sophisticated arms like AK-47s.
1995
- December 28: KLO is founded.
|
