Politics / Tripura

AGARTALA, May 28 ? Tripura has virtually turned into a killing field with 1150 people killed by tribal militants during the last five years. The figure, which was given by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar who also holds the Home portfolio, of course did not include those 31 who were killed on May 7. The Chief Minister placed the figure at the Assembly while replying to a question by Opposition leader Ratan Lal Nath.

The Chief Minister said from April 10, 1998, to April 30, 2003 as many as 1150 innocent people were butchered by the militants. And during this period, 551 were kidnapped. Among them...

AGARTALA, May 26 ? Central Government has extended a financial help of Rs 10.99 crore in the last financial year for the displaced Reang refugees presently sheltered in six camps at Kanchanpur.

The Reangs had come to North Tripura from adjacent Mizoram following fierce ethnic conflict between the Bru (Reang) and Lushai (Mizo) communities in October 1997. The exodus from Mizoram began on the night of October 15 and in phases the Reangs under constant threat and persecution from the majority community poured in the North district.

Several rounds of talks among the representatives of displaced...

AGARTALA, May 26 ? Denying the Chief Minister Manik Sarkar?s peace call, the outlawed militant outfits of Tripura have intensified violence, which has shown a sharp rise in the State compared to the past two years.

The insurgency related incidents have already claimed 123 civil lives after Manik Sarkar-led fifth Left Front government assumed office for the second time in February last. Despite repeated calls, none of the militant outfits have shown any interest to come for a negotiation with the state or the central government. Even no political leaders came forward to hold peace talks...

Agartala, May 22: Chief executive member of Tripura?s Autonomous District Council Kripamohan Reang yesterday tendered his resignation in a letter to the council chairman Hirendra Tripura to pave the way for Debabrata Koloi to take over the reins of power.

However, incumbent chairman Hirendra Tripura, who was also expected to resign in compliance with the decision taken by the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) working committee, refused to step down.

The number of executive members of the council has been raised to nine from the current six.

Agartala, May 18: Tripura police claim to have got wind of a plan by the banned All-Tripura Tiger Force and a faction of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) to drive out Bengali settlers from the state.

Sources in the intelligence wing of the police said the spurt in militant activity in West and North Tripura districts indicated that the NLFT?s Nayanbasi Jamatya faction and the Tiger Force had joined hands again for ?Operation Roukhala (deportation)?.

Jamatya broke away from the NLFT in January 2001 and struck a deal with the Tiger Force. The two groups carried out joint...

Agartala, May 11: It takes them two days to reach their destination, but the long trek is the easiest part of their ordeal. The real test for these people, bonded labourers at the mercy of the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), is to survive the grind that awaits them in the jhum (shifting cultivation) fields scattered across the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh.

After killing and abducting people at will, the NLFT has now made bonded labourers out of as many as 4,500 tribal residents of villages along the Indo-Bangladesh border. These impoverished people are supposedly...

AGARTALA, May 8 — The toll in the death dance by insurgent groups in Tripura rose to 33 today with two persons succumbing to their injuries at the GB Hospital here in the wee hours today, police said, reports PTI. The two — Suradhani and Sanjoy Sarkar were among the six injured in the shootout Wednesday by the banned All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) at Satcharri, a border village of West Tripura district which claimed the lives of 19 others.

Another 10 persons were killed by suspected insurgents of proscribed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) armed with automatic weapons who opened...

SIMNA, Tripura, May 7 — Banned All Tripure Tiger Force, which had been keeping a low profile for the last four years, staged a bloody come back last night shooting down 19 villagers including six women and nine children in West district. Six were injured in the attack and four among them are reported to be in critical condition.

The incident took place at around 1 a m last midnight in the village at Satcherri-Simna Colony located at Sidhal police station area and 34 kms from Agartala city. Tripura State Rifles and BSF launched a massive combing operation in the area to hunt down the militants...

AGARTALA, April 26 — In what can be called a fresh initiative for dialogue with the Mizoram government for early repatriation of the Reang (Bru) refugees presently sheltered in six camps in North Tripura district, a high level team of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) headed by a special secretary will visit the Reang (Bru) refugee camps. The team would among other things, ascertain the actual number of refugees in the six camps in Kanchanpur subdivision.

According to official sources, the central team will arrive at Agartala on April 30 next to settle the dispute over the total number of...

Agartala, April 16: He is the “son of a coronated king”, to say the least, but in Bangladesh, he is known only as chief of his tribal subjects, the Chakmas.

A successful lawyer in the Bangladesh supreme court, 39-year-old Raja Debasish Roy feels in a modern democracy the title of a king is redundant.

The strapping raja was here as the special guest for the three-day “Bijhu” (new year) festival of the Chakma tribe of Tripura.

He took part in the traditional festivities in the remote Jharjharia village under Natun Bazar police station of South Tripura.

Before returning to Bangladesh, he...