Militant camps still in Bangladesh, claims Tripura chief minister

Militant camps still exist across the border in Bangladesh, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar alleged on Monday.

Manik Sarkar (File Photo)

He said this while addressing a large gathering of the elite Tripura State Rifles (TSR) personnel and the members of their families at a blood, eye, and body donation programme at the battalion headquarters in Tripura's Agartala.

Sarkar has been praising the present government in Bangladesh, saying it is friendly towards India and has acted against Northeast Indian militant groups using Bangladesh territory as their launching pad.

But he added several camps of Tripura militants still existed across the border.

“The problem of insurgency has not yet been entirely solved. They have been weakened and cornered, but not totally uprooted.”

He said 19 to 20 camps still existed in Bangladesh. Of the two Tripura militant groups - NLFT and the Tiger Force – the former was still ran camps in Bangladesh, though with a depleting cadre strength.

According to him, there were no records any camp of the banned All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) in Bangladesh at present.

The Chief Minister said the militants were trying to achieve a revival in Tripura and hamper development work.

Sarkar praised the TSR for its counter-insurgency operations in the state.

Tripura has an 857-km border with Bangladesh, of which more than 90 percent has been already fenced.