SILIGURI, Dec 29: The crackdown on the militant camps by Bhutan Government had a serious impact on the Kamatapur Liberation Organisation(KLO), which in turn, will restrict the movement of the militants belonging to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) through the North Bengal corridor.
However, the security agencies are not ruling out the possibility of retaliatory violence by the militant groups out of frustration in the North Bengal area as any major act of sabotage in the area can cut off the entire north-eastern region from the rest of the country. Highly placed security sources told The Assam Tribune here that even before the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) crackdown, the KLO suffered losses in intensified police operations in North Bengal areas and the RBA crackdown completely broke the backbone of the outfit. A number of top leaders of the KLO, including ?commander in chief? Milton Barman and the action squad commander Tom Adhikary were nabbed by the RBA and they have been handed over to West Bengal Police. The interrogation of the arrested KLO militants led to unearthing of vital information regarding the activities of the outfit and its links with the ULFA and the NDFB.
Sources revealed that from the interrogation of the arrested KLO militants, the security agencies have come to know that the KLO had two major camps in Bethni and Buka areas of Bhutan in addition to a number of smaller camps and all the camps were smashed in the RBA crackdown. The KLO was trying to become independent in procurement of weapons, setting up of its own camps, etc. The KLO had established contacts in the Coxs Bazaar area of Bangladesh for procurement of weapons and set up its own independent camps. Earlier, the KLO militants were given training by the ULFA men and the outfit started training its own cadres just before the RBA crackdown. The outfit was also trying to become independent financially and launched extortion drive in the North Bengal area, particularly in the tea gardens, to boost its coffers for procurement of more sophisticated weapons. The outfit has only about 200 trained cadres.
The security agencies have come to know that the though the KLO was not demanding secession from India, the militant outfits like the ULFA and the NDFB were maintaining cordial relations with the outfit for their own benefits and the dependence of the ULFA on the KLO was more than that of the NDFB. The ULFA militants took the help of the KLO for setting up shelter points in the North Bengal area and also frequently used the corridor for transit. Because of more aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Assam, the ULFA and the NDFB militants used the North Bengal corridor frequently to go to their bases in Bangladesh from Bhutan and the militants also used to come for treatment here. The North Bengal-Bhutan border was virtually open and about 50 per cent of the border with Bangladesh is still unfenced, which facilitated the movement of militants through the corridor. In return, the ULFA used to train up the KLO militants and kept KLO men in their camps in Bhutan. The ULFA men also operated jointly with the KLO in the North Bengal area and even within this year, the ULFA and KLO launched several joint operations, including the kidnapping of a businessman. The NDFB, after a bank robbery in 1995, did not launch any major operation in the area. However, the North Bengal-Bhutan border will now be guarded by the SSB personnel, which will restrict the movement of the militants through the area. Security sources said that the crackdown , which affected the KLO to a great extent, would also affect the ULFA and NDFB movement through the area.
Security sources said that according to information available, the RBA crackdown smashed the headquarter of the 709 battalion of the ULFA located at the Kalikhola area of Bhutan, north of North Bengal. However, interestingly the militants are not trying to sneak into India through North Bengal after the crackdown as no ULFA militant was apprehended in the border. Immediately after the RBA crackdown, Army personnel have been posted along the North Bengal-Bhutan border to prevent the militants from sneaking into India and no ULFA militant has so far been apprehended by the Army while trying to sneak in through this area. As per information available, a number of militants went deeper into Bhutan territory and are scattered into the dense forest areas after the crackdown and ?given a chance they would like to come down to India and move to the safer bases in Bangladesh through North Bengal,? security sources added.