New Delhi: National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), two insurgent outfits behind decades of bloodshed in the state, Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Settlement with the Centre and the state government, following year-long talks.
ThePrint has gathered that during the talks, held primarily in Guwahati and Delhi, the Government of India had created safe passages for the leaders of the insurgent groups, which are banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) to cross over to India from Bangladesh, and return.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was present at the signing of the settlement in New Delhi, said more than 328 armed cadres of the two outfits will surrender and join the mainstream under the agreement, bringing down the curtains on an insurgency that lasted over 35 years.
“We have crossed a major milestone today. Over 328 armed cadres will become a part of the mainstream. They can now live with their families, become proud citizens of India … we assure the NLFT and the ATTF that we will follow the settlement in letter and spirit,” Shah said in his remarks at the signing ceremony.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, former chief minister Biplab Deb, TIPRA Motha founder Pradyot Manikya Debbarma, representatives of NLFT, ATTF and a number of senior officials of the MHA and the state administration were present on the occasion.
A new milestone is set today in Tripura's ongoing journey towards peace and progress with the signing of an agreement between the Govt. of India, the Govt. of Tripura, the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), and the All-Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF).
The NLFT and the ATTF… pic.twitter.com/rRxAjaQNYz
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) September 4, 2024
“Under today’s agreement, NLFT and ATTF have agreed to abjure path of violence, lay down all their arms and ammunition and disband their armed organisations. Apart from this, armed cadre of NLFT & ATTF have also agreed to participate in peaceful democratic process established by the law and maintain the integrity of the country,” read a statement by the MHA.
A person involved in the negotiations told ThePrint that around 170 more members of these insurgent groups will surrender in the coming days. They have also surrendered more than 150 weapons including AK 56, AK 47 assault rifles and pistols, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The talks began on 8 January, 2023. Rounds of meetings were held in Guwahati and Delhi. Safe passages were created for leaders of the insurgent groups to cross over to India from Bangladesh and return during the talks. They had to be assured that they would not be arrested,” the official said.
Following the signing of the settlement, NLFT (Biswamohan or BM group) general secretary Upendra Reang told reporters, “We have been struggling for this, our people are the most oppressed in the Northeast because we are sandwiched structurally and institutionally. We are all aware that the state was independent until 1949 before it merged with India. And after the merger, the geopolitical situation changed. Today, we have had an agreement with the Government of India, let’s see how things unfold.”
Pradyot Manikya Debbarma had in an interview with ThePrint in August this year spoken about his role in the peace talks.
The NLFT (Biswamohan Debbarma) and NLFT (Parimal Debbarma) were the last two active splinter groups of the outfit, which was formed in June 1989 with the goal of secession from Tripura. ATTF, led by Ranjit Debbarma, came up in 1993. NLFT underwent many splits over the years.
In 2001, Nayanbasi Jamatia, who was among the top leaders of the NLFT, walked out and formed NLFT(N), which eventually signed a peace deal with the Indian government in 2004. In 2019, 88 cadres of the NLFT (Biswamohan) group had surrendered. ATTF did not see major splits but was considerably weakened over the years.
In an order in May this year, an UAPA tribunal said that intelligence inputs indicate that the outfits were trying to consolidate their strength by “taking advantage of the political turmoil in the neighbouring Bangladesh”.
“The outfit has struck a deal with the forces inimical to Indo-Bangladesh friendship ties and they are determined to work together with an objective to create unrest in Bangladesh as well as to disintegrate India. It is expected that violent activities of the outfit will further rise if there is change in the political climate in neighbouring country Bangladesh,” it observed.
Before Tripura joined the Indian Union in 1949, it was a princely state ruled by the Manikya dynasty for centuries. Its population was largely made up of indigenous communities, even though Bengalis were also present as successive kings brought in people of the community to run the administration and also introduce tribals to settled cultivation.
In the 1881 Census, tribals constituted 63.77 percent of Tripura’s population, but by 2011, this was down to 31.80 percent due to waves of migration of Bengalis fleeing religious persecution during the partition of India and the liberation war of Bangladesh. The demographic shift is at the heart of the armed conflicts that first broke out in the 1960s with the emergence of the first tribal insurgent Sengkrak (Clenched Fist) to emerge.
The bloodiest massacre of Bengalis in the state’s history took place on 5 June, 1980, when insurgents affiliated with the militant group Tripura National Volunteers, which later signed a peace deal with the Rajiv Gandhi government, massacred nearly 350 people in west Tripura’s Mandai. This was followed by more than 1,000 killings over the next few days.
According to South Asia Terrorism Portal, 2,509 civilians, 455 security personnel and 519 insurgents were killed in the state between 1992 and 2012.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: From Opposition to ruling camp — why Pradyot Debbarma’s TIPRA Motha aligned with BJP in Tripura
The NLFT and ATTF are responsible for numerous.massacres of non-tribals in Tripura. Mandai massacre remains the egregious instance of violence on non-tribals resulting in several thousands deaths.
It’s a shame that the Union govt, instead of hunting down these terrorists just like they do in Kashmir, is pardoning them.
This is truly unforgivable.
Now govt need to focus on manipur.. please solve the issue. It’s already hampering the image of BJP