GUWAHATI:
Over 200 militants of two proscribed outfits – Tiwa Liberation Army (TLA) and United Gorkha People’s Organisation (UGPO) – have surrendered before Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, at a surrender ceremony held at Sankardeva Kalakshetra, on January 27.
Of the 246 rebels, 169 militants are from UGPO while 77 are TLA cadres, including the general secretary of the outfit, Laidam Lungfu. The TLA, formed in October 2014, has a camp in the Meghalaya border while the UGPO cadres are from Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).
Welcoming the surrendered militants back to the mainstream, Sarma said, “January 27, 2020 marks a historic day as the Bodo Peace Accord was signed in New Delhi on this date. Everyone can see how peaceful Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) today is,” he said, adding that peace settlement with ethnic extremist groups can be achieved only through dialogue as recent examples have shown.
In the ceremony, the chief minister also distributed a financial grant of Rs 1.5 lakh each to 662 surrendered cadres of five armed groups – Rabha National Liberation Front (RNLF), United People’s Revolutionary Front (URPF), National Liberation Front of Bengalis (NLFB), Adivasi Dragon Fighter (ADF) and National Santhal Liberation Army (NSLA), who had surrendered last year.
“The surrendered militants must engage in entrepreneurship and agriculture to lead dignified lives and contribute to Assam’s progress. They have to utilise the financial grant judiciously for livelihood and generating employment. We are embracing the misguided youths to come back home and utilise their vigour and strength to build a strong Assam. They must never choose the path of violence,” Sarma said.
Reiterating the government’s commitment to rehabilitate all surrendered militants by May 10, the chief minister urged the United Liberation Front of Assam – Independent (ULFA – I) and Kamptapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), the two remaining major extremist groups in the state, to come forward for peace talks with the government of India.
Sarma further added, “Now is the time to start a bloodless revolution where hard work and dedication to the economic development of Assam would make the state self-reliant. Those successful in generating employment opportunities and helping in the state’s economic progress would be felicitated too.”
In the surrender ceremony, among those present were Ashok Singhal, the state irrigation minister, Pramod Boro, chief of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) Jivan Chandra Konwar, chief executive member of the Tiwa Autonomous Council (TAC) and additional chief secretary Paban Barthakur.