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Delegation urges Centre to rush more forces to Tripura

The parliamentary delegation now visiting Tripura has urged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to send additional security forces to counter growing militancy in the border state.

''We are clearly of the view that the central government should immediately deploy at least 54 companies of the army or Assam Rifles to intensify the anti-insurgency measures and an additional nine battalions of the Border Security Force for patrolling the border,'' the delegation said in a letter and a fax message to Vajpayee and Union Home Minister L K Advani.

Speaking to newsmen in Agartala last night, the leader of the delegation Somnath Chatterjee of the Communist Party of India-Marxist said it was also essential to fence the India-Bangladesh border in Tripura now.

The parliamentary team visited Panchabati where 18 people were killed and eleven injured by the All Tripura Tribal Force militants on Sunday.

Chatterjee said 76 people were killed and 88 kidnapped in the state during the past three months.

He said West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu would meet the prime minister tomorrow and discuss the matter with him.

The delegation quoting official reports said as many as 29 camps were functioning in Bangladesh where militants from Tripura and other north eastern states were being trained. The matter should be taken up with Bangladesh immediately, Chatterjee said.

The delegation said despite repeated requests to the prime minister and the Union home minister to provide additional forces the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre did not show its political and administrative will to help the state.

On the contrary, the Union government had withdrawn the BSF and the Central Reserve Police Force from the state, Chatterjee said and added that the militants belonging to the north eastern region were using the 856 kilometres-long international border as a safe corridor.

He said despite the cease fire agreement between the Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, the outfit was helping Tripura's two banned outfits -- the All Tripura Tiger Force and the National Liberation Front of Tripura -- in procuring sophisticated weapons.

He said the state's forces had organised 90 operations against the militants since January this year killing 17 extremists and four collaborators. In all 392 extremists and 26 hardcore rebels were arrested in the operations.

He regretted that except the Left Front no opposition parties had pressurised the BJP-led government to help the state so far. ''We urge all political parties irrespective of their political affiliation to come forward to help the Tripura government to contain militancy,'' Chatterjee said.

Other members of the delegation are Amar Roy Pradhan (Forward Bloc), Sanat Mandal (Revolutionary Socialist Party) and Ajoy Chakraborty (Communist Party of India). The delegation left for Calcutta today.

UNI

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