AGARTALA, December 2 (TIWN): A total of 19 militant camps is still along the Indo-Bangladesh international border, said Chief Minister Manik Sarkar yesterday. The real cause for NLFT or any other Tripura insurgent group 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. Moment this pressure is gone, the NLFT will be able to revive itself again, he added.

Most of these hideouts were 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 CM mentioned.

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. BSF and district police administration were asked to maintain strict vigil along the border so that militants could not enter into the Indian soil, Manik added.

But remote regions of Chittagong Hill Tracts like the Northern Sajek ranges (where NLFT bases now are mostly based) are still not accessible and Bangladesh security forces have limited capability of

hitting these areas. That explains why the NLFT, specially its Panther regiment, has been able to regroup in this area and operate on the Mizoram-Tripura axis, source added.

It is to also to be mentioned here that, NLFT self-styled foreign secretary Utpal Debbarma was out on bail on November 6.  Debbarma was arrested from Aizawl way back in 2011 by jawans of the Assam Rifles and SIB sleuths. He was charged with sedition and illegal possession of arms. The release of top-ranking rebel leader has set an alarm bell among the security agencies including Assam Rifles and Subsidiary Intelligence Branch (SIB).