Rebel groups join hands to prevent peace talks in North-east

by Iboyaima Laithangbam

All major police stations and camps of the security forces in the insurgency afflicted states of the North East have been put on red alert following intelligence reports that the major rebel groups of Manipur have come to the rescue of the decimated militant organisations of the region in general and Assam in particular.

This fear was confirmed by the recent arrests of some rebel leaders in Manipur. The police and the Central Reserve Police Force on Friday jointlyarrested three hardcore rebel leaders with foreign currencies, Rs. 1 lakh in cash, two laptops, 3 pen drives and a Bangladeshi passport. They were picked up shortly after three bombs were plantedin Guwahati, allegedly by the anti-talk faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).

A CRPF spokesperson told journalists here that once interrogation of those arrested is completed and incriminating materials analysed, things will become clearer.

Some police officers from Imphal have rushed to Guwahati to assist in the interrogation. Preliminary reports said that the NDFB is resorting to the attacks on railway tracks and planting bombs in the crowded areas to derail the peace process and to semaphore a message to the Union Home Ministry that this faction of the NDFB cannot be sidelined.

A large group in NDFB is ready to hold talks with the Centre. The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), militarily speaking, has been emasculated. Almost all the ranking leaders are now behind bars, although Paresh Barua, the commander-in-chief, is suspected to be bivouacking somewhere at the Kachin region in Myanmar. The rebels of Manipur have fanned out for extending a helping hand to the fledging outfits of the region, since it pays to keep the NE states burning. Because if some outfits of the region join the negotiating table after eschewing the path of violence it will be a crippling setback for the major rebel groups that want to liberate the entire region.

The ULFA, the United National Liberation Front and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) had formed the Indo Burma Revolutionary Front on May 22, 1990, with this objective in view. They claim that the peoples of the NEand those from the Western part of Myanmar are racially similar and have a common future.

Various other rebel groups had joined hands to form the Revolutionary Joint Committee on May 1,1991, the Manipur People's Liberation Front in 1999, the United Liberation Front of Seven Sisters in 1993 and the Self Defence United Front of South East Himalayan Region.

A ranking rebel leader told TheHindu that his group has beentraining rebels of Meghalaya and of some other states in bank heists and attacking the troopers, free of charge.In the backdrop of the rebel groups joining hands, two meetings by the State and the Central forces and intelligence agencies were held in Guwahati and Kohima earlier.

Intelligence sources fear a spurt of fresh violence in the region, engineered with the assistance of the rebels of Manipur.