Nearly 300 surrendered militants launch hunger strike in Tripura  demanding rehabilitation

Agartala, Aug 5 (IANS) Around 300 surrendered militants of different extremist outfits on Monday launched a 48-hour long hunger strike in support of their various demands including their rehabilitation, officials said.

A police official said that around 300 surrendered militants belonging to different extremist outfits including the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) and Bru National Council of Tripura (BNCT) launched the 48-hour-long hunger strike at Manu-Manpui area in north Tripura’s Kanchanpur.

The surrendered militants earlier on July 31 informed Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha about their agitation.

The spokesperson of the agitating surrendered militants S. K. Jamatia said that in indifferent phases, 1235 militants of NLFT, ATTF and BNCT have surrendered till 2018 but the government is yet to fulfil their 5-point demands, which include economic rehabilitation of all the surrendered extremists, withdrawal of cases pending against them, development of their areas.

“If the state government would not implement our demands at the earliest, we would discuss ourselves to launch much bigger agitations to highlight our long pending demands,” Jamatia told the media.    

He said that on a number of occasions, they apprised the government about their demands and issues but the government has yet to take any steps to fulfil our demands and problems.

An official of Tripura’s Tribal Welfare Department said that under the “revised scheme for surrender cum rehabilitation of militants in the northeast” formulated by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), several hundred surrendered militants economically rehabilitated in the state for the past few decades.

The official said that the objective of the scheme is to wean away the misguided youths and hardcore militants who have strayed into the fold of militancy and now find themselves trapped in that net. The scheme also seeks to ensure that the militants who have surrendered do not find it attractive to join militancy again.

The scheme, which has several provisions to provide financial and other logistical support to the surrendered militants, is applicable to those militants who surrender at least one weapon.

However, in exceptional and deserving cases, militants who surrender without arms may also be considered for rehabilitation under the scheme.

The names of surrendered militants would be scrutinised by the screening committee and a final view taken by Unified Headquarters or a similar body at the state government headquarters.

The benefits of the scheme shall not be available to a surrenderee who is a recycled militant/terrorist, the official said.