Tripura: Assessment- 2001

The year 2001 commenced with a continuation of insurgent violence in Tripura as terrorists belonging to the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) killed two persons including a security force personnel in separate incidents at South Tripura and Dhalai districts on January 1, 2001. The NLFT and other terrorist outfits of the State in separate incidents have also abducted 19 persons including 16 railway personnel in the first week of the year 2001.

Persistent violence marked year 2000 in Tripura which has remained deeply affected by terrorism for the past two decades. Even as civilians continued to be targeted by the various terrorist outfits in the state, fratricidal warfare between different outfits posed an additional threat to civic life.

A total of 820 incidents of terrorist attacks were reported in the year 2000, as compared to 614 in the preceding year. Total fatalities were 405 as compared to 303 in 1999. The casualties among security force personnel decreased to 17 in 2000, as compared to 41 in 1999. Casualties among civilians increased to 351 in 2000 in comparison to 240 in the year 1999. The number of terrorists killed stood at 37 as against 22 in the preceding year. The number of terrorists surrendered also increased from 57 in 1999 to 95 in 2000. Another 785 terrorists were arrested during the year.

Abduction by terrorists in Tripura has evolved into a well-organised criminal operation. A total of 555 incidents of abduction, including 481 by the NLFT and 41 by the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), were reported in the State during the year 2000. Apart from the dominant groups, lesser-known terrorist groups, including some criminal gangs, are known to have abducted civilians in order to ‘sell’ them to one or the other of the larger terrorist organisations. These major outfits then hike the ransom amount – usually to a level double of what they have ‘paid out’ for the hostage. According to a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) report, Tripura accounted for approximately 70 per cent of the abduction incidents in the entire Northeastern region.

Note: Figures are compiled from news reports and are provisional

Among 30 terrorist outfits currently operating in Tripura, two – the NLFT and the ATTF – were responsible for most of the terrorist attacks and subversive activities. Tribal terrorists specifically targeted the Bengali population, whom they call ‘settler refugees’. Most tribal terrorists are driven by a perceived sense of deprivation and injustice, primarily due to the fact that they hail from impoverished tribal families and many have lost their land to Bengali migrants. The level of violence in Tripura has also been heightened by the emergence of militant Bengali organizations such as the United Bengali Liberation Front (UBLF) and Amra Bangali (We Are Bengalis). Following a series of attacks, carried out by tribal terrorist groups on Bengali 'settlers', the UBLF, formed in October 1999 as a rival terrorist outfit, engaged in a number of retaliatory activities, including abduction, extortion, arson, bombing and the killing of tribals. In the year 2000 UBLF terrorists killed 35 tribals.

By September 2000, approximately 158 companies of central para-military forces were deployed in the State. The State government introduced a law in January 2000 which provided for the detention of suspected terrorists for a year without trial. The Tripura Police launched Operation Synergy, a joint counter-insurgency operation, in November, 2000, in association with their counterparts in Assam and Mizoram. A special task force of commandos was raised in March, 2000, the first of its kind in the Northeastern region.

Attacks on non-tribal people in South and West Tripura became more frequent consequent to the victory of the Indigenous People's front of Tripura (IPFT), in the Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections held in May 2000. The IPTF is the political wing of the NLFT. Terrorists of the NLFT massacred 45 non-tribal persons at Bagber, Ratiya and Chakmaghat in West Tripura in May 2000. Continuing ethnic violence between the Reangs and Bengalis also led to 14 persons being killed in Barahaldi in North Tripura district on November 19, 2000. Over 10,000 non-tribals have reportedly fled their homes in Tripura.

A significant aspect of the terrorists' functioning in the State was the growing evidence of a deepening nexus between major political parties and terrorist groups. The NLFT is alleged to have close links with the Congress (I), while the ATTF is reportedly aligned with the ruling Left Front. These reports indicate that terrorism in the State – with its disproportionate emphasis on criminal activities such as abduction and extortion – is substantially supported and sustained by political patronage.

Terrorist outfits in Tripura also strengthened their existing network with other groups in the region. According to official reports, these groups, aided by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Pakistani external intelligence agency, exploit the 865 km-long porous border with Bangladesh to establish their hide-outs outside Indian territory. The ATTF headquarters at Tarabon in Bangladesh currently also serves as the make-shift headquarters of Arabinda Rajkhowa, the chairman of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). Reports also indicate that Tripura has emerged as a corridor for pushing arms to other States in the Northeast, with groups such as the NLFT procuring arms and ammunition from South East Asian countries such as Thailand and Singapore, and depositing them at Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh, one of the major illegal arms centres in the region. According to Badal Chowdhury, the Finance Minister of Tripura, the illegal consignments of weapons are offloaded in the districts of Dholai, South Tripura and North Tripura, to be transported later to other parts of the Northeastern region.

The State government submitted a report to the Centre in May 2000 documenting the terrorist activities of the various militant groups, including details of weapons procurement and a list of 21 NLFT and eight ATTF base camps across the border, a majority of which are situated in Sylhet and Chittagong districts of Bangladesh. The gravity of the situation could be ascertained from the fact that the State government has requested the Union Home Ministry to move the Interpol to issue red-corner notices against approximately 20 leaders of terrorist outfits, including the NLFT chief Bishwamohan Debbarma and the ATTF chief, Ranjit Debbarma.

A critical development within the terrorist movement was the vertical split in the NLFT in September 2000. The split occurred primarily due to tribal rivalries accentuated by the differences between Halams (who led a coalition of smaller Tripura tribes in the NLFT) and the Debbarmas (the single largest tribe). The schism was consequent to the expulsion of Jogendra Debbarma, chief of the political wing of the outfit by the Halam 'Prime Minister' Koloi. Jogendra Debbarma has reportedly formed the Borok National Council of Tripura (BNCT) and is also alleged to have established contacts with certain Meitei insurgent groups in Manipur. The year also witnessed a violent conflict between the cadres of NLFT and the Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF), a Reang dominated outfit based in Mizoram. The high point of this violent feud was the July 9, 2000, incident wherein 70 BNLF cadres were killed by the NLFT at the BNLF headquarters in the Jampui hills in Bangladesh.

Popular opposition to terrorism was carried on by the Jamatiya Hoda, the Supreme Council of the Jamatiya tribe, the third largest tribal group in the State. At the 410^th conference of the Hoda, the tribal leaders, on December 13, 2000, resolved not to pay any kind of ‘tax’ to the terrorist groups operating in the State. The conflict between NLFT and the Hoda reached a high point in the latter half of 2000, with the clergy and community leadership of the Jamatiyas seeking the Governor’s intervention in October, 2000, to defend their faith amidst the forced conversion drive, constant threats and intimidation by the NLFT. In addition to the Jamatiyas, the Reangs and Uchais were the other communities within the larger anti-terrorism campaign. In the first week of December, 2000, at least two Hindu and one Buddhist places of worship were ransacked by NLFT terrorists, who had earlier given a directive for the cessation of all non-Christian ways of worship in the State.

The State government also had to deal with more demands for autonomy as the Tripura Upajati Juba Samity (TUJS), a tribal-based regional party demanded an autonomous tribal State within the TTAADC region, where 70 per cent of the inhabitants are tribals.