Shillong, Feb. 20: Buoyed by the success of the Bhutan flushout, the governors and chief ministers of the Northeast today decided to urge New Delhi to put pressure on Bangladesh and Myanmar for similar offensives.
Seven governors and five chief ministers of the region today passed a resolution at the 49th annual meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC) here to submit a memorandum to the Centre asking it to exert diplomatic pressure on Dhaka and Yangon to dismantle the militant camps and seal the escape routes.
?The memorandum will be submitted to the home ministry and we hope it yields results like it did in case of Bhutan,? Assam governor Lt Gen. (retd) Ajai Singh told reporters at the end of the meeting.
Gen. Singh said the government has reports, which strongly suggest that the militants, mostly from the Ulfa and the NDFB, fleeing from camps in Bhutan, are taking shelter in Meghalaya?s Garo hills and neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar. In fact, apart from the economic fallout of the NEC budget cut, the flushout topped today?s agenda. ?We will take one step at a time but definitely brief the Centre about the consequences of cross-border militancy,? Gen. Singh said.
Earlier, Assam Rifles director-general Lt Gen. H.S. Kanwar told a select group of journalists that proper attention should be given to boost security in Arunachal Pradesh?s Tirap and Changlang and Manipur?s Chandel and Moreh districts. Kanwar is also the security adviser to the NEC. ?Tirap and Changlang have become a battleground for the two NSCN factions, which are trying to gain control of the corridor to Myanmar. It could become a possible route for the militants escaping from Bhutan,? Gen. Kanwar said.
He said Assam Rifles has asked for more forces to launch a mop-up operation in the Chandel and Moreh areas.
Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar said Dhaka must be asked to act like Bhutan and close down militant camps on its soil. While reiterating his earlier call for treating insurgency in the Northeast as ?a national problem?, Sarkar rued that leaders at the Centre are yet to understand the ground reality.
Sarkar, who was here to attend the NEC meeting, felt that unless Bangladesh responds like Bhutan, attempts to find a solution to militancy in the Northeast would be futile. ?Firstly, Dhaka?s response is not encouraging. Secondly, its stand on a Bhutan-type operation does not augur well for either country.?
Sarkar expressed concern at the ?lukewarm follow-up? to repeated reminders that he and other chief ministers have been sending to Delhi on the growing number of militant camps in Bangladesh.