DHARMANAGAR (North Tripura), June 13 – The leaders of the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) are keen to hold peace talks with the Government of Tripura if the latter sends out positive signals in this direction. The extremist group is also willing to drop some of its demands if the government shows a favourable attitude in this regard. The news of the outfit’s talks offer were published in Chaba, a journal of the Tripura People’s Democratic Front which is closely associated with the ATTF.
It may be mentioned that the leaders of ATTF had recently prepared a 20-point charter of demands and handed it over to the state intelligence bureau through a middleman in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. The ATTF had given a call for Tripura bandh during the election time, in protest against the state government’s alleged apathy towards fulfilling its earlier comitment that all the surrendered militants would be given adequate assistance. Dubbing the surrender ceremonies arranged from time to time as “drama”, the militant outfit alleged that it is only a ploy of the state government to “trap” some of the members of the outfit with no follow-up action whatsoever. The government has totally failed to render any help to the surendered ultras, the ATTF alleged.
It is also learnt from Chaba that a few middlemen have of late been quite active in Dhaka to bring the ATTF to the discussion table.Meanwhile, Trade union leader Manindra Kumar Sen of the CPI(M) told The Assam Tribune that the villagers living in the Indo-Bangla boder areas have been spending sleepless nights following the apprehension that the militant outfit may attack the border villages any time. An uneasy calm is gripping the Raghna, Bakbaki, Baruakandi, Yakubnagar, Bhagyapur and other border villages. Dharmanagar police have also intensified patrolling along the border although BSF had already increased its strength to meet any untoward situation. The Deputy Commissioner of Kailasahar, North Tripura, has also banned the movement of all kinds of vehicles on Dharamnagar-Kailasahar road after 6 pm as a preventive measure.
Meanwhile, the Dharamnagar Congress Committee has demanded white paper by the state government on the surender of militants. According to Sri MK Sen, the numbers of surrendered ultras, outfit-wise, over the last six years are as follows: ATTF–59, NLFT–293, BNCT–33, TNSF–12, TTCF–70, NLFT–72 (total arms deposited–262).