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Nepal Maoists enter Bhutan via Assam |
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Assam has become a corridor to Bhutan for Maoists from Nepal. The Maoist flow to Bhutan via the Northeast came to light after the recent arrest of several rebels in the Himalayan kingdom. Reports in the official Bhutanese newspaper, Kuensel, said the rebels had entered that country to set up camps and train Nepalese based there for an armed movement against the royal government. Six Maoist rebels were caught by a Royal Bhutan Army patrol at Singay block in Sarpang Dzongkhag. They confessed to entering the country through Assam, Kuensel said. The militants set up a camp at Budunikhola with the help of residents. A pistol, four rifles and four grenades were found in that camp. A batch of five militants went back to Nepal days before their comrades were arrested. Nine more militants escaped into a forest. The leader of the camp, Sagar Rai, is among those at large.
Police officials in Assam said they were aware of the developments and had begun an investigation. “We will be contacting our counterparts in Bhutan to find out more. We also have information about Maoist rebels from Jharkhand trying to set up base in Assam, especially with the help of Adivasi militants. Bhutan will be the refuge of these elements if their Nepal counterparts set up base in that country,” a senior official said.
Several areas in Assam that border Bhutan have a large population of Adivasis, a community that is restive at not being given Scheduled Tribe status. “We already know of the advantage Ulfa and the National Democratic Front of Boroland enjoyed when they had bases in Bhutan,” the official said. The commander of the Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA), Nirmal Tirkey, is said to be trying to establish links with the Maoists. “We have reports that he has succeeded to an extent in forging links with them,” the official said.
A parliamentary delegation from Jharkhand that visited Assam after the November 24 mob attack on Adivasi rallyists at Beltola in Guwahati had cautioned the Government about Maoists trying to sneak into the State to help the ANLA. The police official said the Maoists caught in Bhutan probably entered Assam through West Bengal and crossed the international border in Bongaigaon district to reach Sarpang. Security forces deployed in the districts bordering Bhutan have been alerted to the possibility of more Maoists using Assam as a corridor to the Himalayan kingdom. A senior official of the Red Horns Division, based in Rangia near Guwahati, said army personnel were keeping watch on the border. “Militants find it easy to sneak into the Himalayan kingdom because the border with Assam is porous,” he added.
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