AGARTALA, November 28 (TIWN): 32 militant camps still exist along the Indo-Bangladesh international border, said Inspector General of BSF Tripura frontier B.N. Sharma. Out of the total 32 militant camps, most of them belonging to banned outfits National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), IG of BSF said. Speaking to the reporters in BSF headquarter at Salbagan, B.N. Sharma said that a total of 64 Border Out Posts (BOP) are present in the state. Out of the 64 Border Outpost BOPs, 22 BOPs are operational at present, he added. The remaining 42 BOP will become operational soon, he added. Most of these hideouts are concentrated at Chittagong Hill Track (CHT) in the neighboring country Bangladesh. The insurgents were using Tripura-Mizoram-Bangladesh tri-junction as corridor, security agencies, including Assam Riffles and Tripura State Riffles (TSR) have been trying hard to stop infiltration of militants from across the border, the IG further mentioned.BSF and district police administration were asked to maintain strict vigil along the border so that militants could not enter into the Indian soil, he added.Tripura also shares 851-km-long border with Bangladesh which constitutes 85 per cent of its total border and out of the 851 km long border with Bangladesh 703 km fencing is already completed and 143 km are still unfenced due to various issues, he mentioned.

The real cause for NLFT or any other Tripura insurgent group for not taking off big time is because of the zero tolerance of Hasina's government and the pressure exerted on the security forces in our neighboring country by the political leadership to hit out at the rebels, be they from ethnic militant groups of India's Northeast or local Islamist radicals.  That is why the Islamist radicals are fleeing to West Bengal where they get all the sanctuary and support they need to thrive. The moment this pressure is gone, the NLFT will be able to revive itself again.

 

Documents given at BSF Press conference showing BSF's bravery and performance. TIWN Pic Nov 28