SAMDRUP JONGKHAR, Dec 18? Bhutan today rejected a ceasefire call by ULFA and vowed to go ahead with the ongoing ?short but decisive? military operation till the end result of flushing the Indian insurgents out of its soil was achieved, reports PTI. Amidst reports of over 120 insurgents, including the chief of Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) Jiban Singha killed and over 500 captured, in the operation that continued for the fourth day, Bhutan accused the Indian insurgent groups of ULFA, NDFB and KLO of violating its sovereignty and said ?as long as they are here, they pose a threat to our national security.?
ULFA and NDFB publicity secretaries Mithinga Daimary and B Erakdao respectively had been captured by the Bhutanese army and handed over to India. these were also reports of a large number of insurgents sneaking into West Bengal after most of their 30 camps were pounded by the Bhutanese Army.
?We are not prepared to believe them (ULFA) on their call for a ceasefire and our battle will continue till the end result of flushing them out from our soil. We are prepared to face consequences,? Yeshey Dorjee, director in the Bhutan Foreign Ministry told a visiting PTI correspondent in this town on the India-Bhutan border.
Dorjee said the insurgents were given enough time and ?there is a limit to our patience. We cannot allow armed militants to openly parade on our soil flouting the law and order machinery.? He said ULFA?s appeal at this stage has no value as the Bhutanese Government was talking to them for the last six years without any success. ?Now they are coming up with the ceasefire idea without mentioning anything about leaving our country.?
Dorjee declared that the operation to evict over 3000 insurgents out of the kingdom would be short but decisive and said as long as the militants were on Bhutanese soil ?they pose a threat to our national security.? He said both sides have suffered casualties but refused to give details.
However, a top Indian military official said in Kolkata that the operation had achieved major success with an estimated 90 to 120 ultras being killed and most of their camps demolished. GOC-in-C Eastern Command Lt Gen J S Verma told reporters that the casualties on the Royal Bhutan Army side were ?not high and within acceptable limits of only six to seven.?
Lt Gen Verma, who said that the Indian army was providing logistic support to the Royal Bhutan Army, also hinted that the militants may not withstand the onslaught for long. ?The morale of the ultras has been on the lower side for the past few days and they are low on ration and poorly fed. They (militants) cannot survive and will have to give up sooner or later,? he said.
Rejecting any notion of Indian troops helping the RBA in the operation, he said ?Bhutan Army was an organised body of troops, well-equipped and well-trained. Indian Army has been deployed only to seal the entire Indo-Bhutan border to stop the rebels from crossing over to the Indian territory.? Asked about the accusations by a prominent Assam Youth organisation that Bhutan was violating the United Nations guidelines with its army operations against the ultras, Dorjee shot back, ?in fact they (militants) have violated our sovereignty and the integrity of our country.?