Kokrajhar, Dec. 16: The National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) chief is under constant pressure from the members of the outfit to announce a ceasefire and sit down for talks with the Centre. Disclosing this, surrendered NDFB militant B. Maofung, alias Manaranjan Basumatary, said the rebels had repeatedly appealed to NDFB chairman Ranjan Daimary to begin talks with the Union government since 2001.
Basumatary, who held the rank of second lieutenant before his surrender, was among the 21 NDFB cadre who laid down arms before the Kokrajhar district administration on November 28.
The group also included a sergeant major, a sergeant and two lance corporals of the outfit.
Basumatary said the cadre had first made their appeal at the NDFB?s council assembly in Khalikola in 2001. ?At the assembly, 40 members of the military wing of the outfit proposed announcing a ceasefire and sitting down for talks with the Centre to resolve the problem of fratricidal killing. Daimary turned down the proposal of a ceasefire but said the issue of holding talks with the Centre would be discussed. Later vice-chairman Dhiren Boro, alias B. Sungthagwra, and general secretary B. Swmkhwr, alias Gobinda Basumatary, were assigned the job,? he said.
However, both militant leaders were arrested before the committee could begin the task.
Sikkim police took Boro into custody in Gangtok on January 1, while Basumatary was apprehended in Rangiya by Assam police on November 26 last year. Basumatary added that immediately after the proposal, Daimary forced 35 rebels to retire.
The former rebel disclosed that till date 20 batches of NDFB militants were trained at seven base camps. The outfit has a total strength of over 550 activists.