NLFT leader exposes rift in outfit

AGARTALA, March 19: Making fresh disclosures about the infighting in the National Liberation Front of Twipra, senior NLFT commander Nayanbasi Jamatya lashed out at the outfit's official faction. Jamatya, who left the outfit's hideout in Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh last month, said in a fax message to the local media that the former chief executive member of the Autonomous District Council (ADC) and senior leader of the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) Debabrata Koloi met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Delhi with a proposal for peace negotiations. Senior IPFT leader B.K. Hrangkhawal and Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga also lent a helping hand in the process. But the issue was exposed much to the frustration of the NLFT cadre who were keen to end life in the jungle and return home. Blaming the NLFT leadership for misguiding tribal youth, Nayanbasi said in 1999, Koloi had met commanders of the outfit with a signed letter from a colonel of the Assam Rifles for surrender, but Joshua Debbarma, political advisor to the group, arbitrarily shot down the proposal. The proposal was given again and this time senior IPFT leader Ananta Debbarma met the NLFT commanders. But a few leaders of the outfit refused to surrender without allowing the cadres to express their views on the subject. Jamatya, a former jawan of the 1st battalion of Tripura State Rifles who went underground in 1990 after being framed in a fund embezzlement case when he was posted as sentry in Barmura thermal power plant, criticised NLFT leaders for leading luxurious lives at the cost of the outfit's funds, depriving cadres and middle-ranking commanders. "The difference in lifestyle is so wide and obvious that common cadres who risk their lives in the organisation are totally frustrated," he said. Jamatya also accused NLFT bosses like Mantu Koloi, Dhanu Koloi, Kamini Debbarma and Biswa Mohan Debbarma of carrying on personal business with NLFT money. Jamatya disclosed that NLFT cadres were subjected to physical torture in the name of punishment for any offence and execution without trial was rampant. Giving a gory picture of the psychopathic violence, he said Bagala Debbarma (Amarpur), Kansaram Reang (Belonia), Asha Jamatya (Udaipur), Gaya Prasad Debbarma (Kamalpur), Padma Mohan Tripura (Dhoomacherra), Mayaram Reang (Belonia) and Chakradhar Tripura (Dhoomacherra) were executed without trial by NLFT bosses. Accusing NLFT leaders of hatching a conspiracy against him, Jamatya said they had sent two NLFT cadre, Utpanna Tripura and Mokol Debbarma, to assassinate him and his associate sergeant Sumai. However, the news had leaked out and his loyalists gunned down the two after they entered his hideout and took out revolvers. Jamatya described Koloi as a RAW agent and asserted that he will carry on the struggle for freedom of Tripura. Official sources here refused to comment on Jamatya's fax message but indicated that his contention was by and large correct.