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North East insurgency : Army intensifies its operations : Top leaders arrested

	August 29, 2005

The Indian Army in the north-east has intensified its operations against militants belonging to various banned outfits such as the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). Last week on August 27, the Army launched an anti-insurgency operation in Arunachal Pradesh jointly with police, surrounding several heavily-armed ULFA cadre in the deep jungles of Lower Dibang Valley and East Siang districts. According to a press release issued by the Arunachal Pradesh government, top leaders of three other outfits active in the border state, the National Liberation Front of Arunachal (NLFA), the United Socialist Council of Arunachal (USCA) and the Taniland Democratic Solidarity (TDS) were also arrested.



Two of the arrested leaders have been identified as Gangte Tugung and Bamang Bake, who were heading the USCA and the TDS. Another militant leader, Koj Tara, self-styled chairman of the NLFA, was apprehended in Dimapur. The raids on militant hideouts in the eastern districts of the state, bordering Assam and Nagaland, led to the arrest of 16 other rebels also.



During the past few years, banned outfits like the NLFA, the USCA and the TDS have established camps in the state, the release said, adding that the outfits were involved in alarming activities that created fear and terror.



Sources, however, said at least 50 to 80 ULFA activists, including several women cadre, belonging to the outfit’s 28 Battalion had been surrounded by the forces and more reinforcements had been called for, including air support.



According to other reports, one Ritu Bora, an ULFA area commander, has been killed and two other Ulfa militants arrested. A soldier and a policeman have been critically injured in the operations.



Troops of the 5 Madras Regiment and several dozen policemen moved into the area under cover of darkness. The operation was launched after it was given final shape at a high-level security meeting held at the divisional headquarters of the army’s 2 Mountain Division recently.



Col A.K. Singh, commanding officer of 5 Madras Regiment, said over phone that the operation was still on and may last for some more days. “This is the very initial part of the operation and, therefore, we are not in a position to say more on it”, Singh, who is leading the operations, said.



When contacted, state Director-General of Police, Amodh Kant, too, declined to comment on the operations.





“The terrain is very much tough. Therefore, we will need more reinforcements in the next couple of days if the operation continues for a week or so”, a source said.



The Government of Arunachal Pradesh had recently expressed serious concern over the growth of ULFA-related activities on its soil.



In earlier days, too, there was the presence of ULFA cadre in some areas of the state, but at that time they were only using the territory as mere transit routes. However, now they have started establishing camps and are involved in extortion also, a senior police official said.



The ULFA had shifted its camps to the eastern part of the state after the Bhutan operation and had been gradually spreading its domain from Tirap, Changlang and Lohit to Lower and Upper Dibang Valley and East Siang districts.



The Ulfa had always used the Arunachal Pradesh districts bordering Assam to carry out hit-and-run operations in different districts of Upper Assam.



Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has taken up the matter with the Union Home Ministry in the past to persuade the Arunachal Pradesh government to launch a counter-offensive against the ULFA.





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NLFT militants using their women cadres as consorts



Insurgency in the Communist ruled state of Tripura has taken a peculiar turn with Tribal separatists using their women cadre as consorts and making pornographic films to raise money to fund their terror campaigns.



According to revelations made before Police by surrendered militants of National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), separatist leaders have been forcing women cadres and some male recruits into acting in pornographic films shot in the jungles.



The films are then sold in various parts of India and other adjoining South Asian countries with the NLFT making a huge profit - the money is used for running an armed guerrilla campaign against the security forces.



Following the sensational disclosure, police have raided several shops selling cassettes and CDs in Tripura and seized a number of pornographic films featuring tribal women.



According to tripurainfo.com, the State’s official website, the films are dubbed in Thai, Burmese and other languages. The website claims to have secured a CD titled Hamjagoi Tongthoklaima (Our Experiences).



Like a feature film, it runs a full cast of “heroes” and “heroines”. Initially, it appears to be a love film with boys and girls holding hands and walking past lakes and trees. But soon the video starts featuring close-up shots of the “actors” undressing and having sex.



Police have been on the trail of those behind this sleaze racket since last month when some women NLFT cadre fled their camps and surrendered before authorities alleging sexual abuse by their male leaders.



A police spokesperson said several women cadre of the outlawed All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) and the NLFT had fled their jungle hideouts after being subjected to frequent sexual abuse by senior leaders.



“We have reports of at least a dozen female cadre of the ATTF and the NLFT deserting camps on grounds of sexual abuse and harassment by male members of the outfits,” a police official said requesting anonymity. The NLFT and the ATTF are separatist groups fighting for independent tribal homelands in Tripura.



Meenaxi Debbarma and Rajlakshmi Debbarma, both in their early 20s, joined the ATTF four years back with the dream of carving out a tribal homeland through armed struggle. The two tribal girls underwent a three-month arms training and were all ready to join action.



“We were in for a shock when we found our male commanders taking turns in visiting our camps in the jungles and abusing us sexually,” the two renegade ATTF women told the police. The two picked up courage to flee their camps located in Bangladesh and surrendered before Tripura police last week on Wednesday.



“All the 17 women staying in our camp were subjected to frequent sexual assault by leaders,” they said, adding, “Instead of allowing us to go for action, our commanders made us cook food and do other chores in the past four years.”



The NLFT had faced a crisis recently with many male cadre deserting its camps for feeling lonely in the jungles.



“To stem the exodus, the NLFT leadership decided to raise a women’s army by recruiting 100 cadre into its ranks to keep the male cadre in good humour,” the police official said. “The militants lead a lonely life in the jungles and once you have women there, it is anybody’s guess what could happen,” he added.



But the move to recruit women cadre by NLFT backfired with couples falling in love and deserting camps to get married.



“During the past year, many militant couples married secretly and either fled the camps or simply surrendered to security forces,” the official said.



Overwhelmed by desertions, the NLFT leadership has read the riot act to its members. “During investigations of some cadres, it was learnt the NLFT leadership has ordered its male ranks not to fall in love and has strictly forbidden physical relationships with women cadre,” a senior intelligence official said.



News agencies have reported Tripura DGP GM Srivastava saying: “We have information about militants using tribal girls for sexual exploitation. Many girls who managed to flee the clutches of militants told police officers that they were being sexually exploited in militant hideouts.”



Meanwhile, BBC News quoted some video production house owners in Tripura confirming the racket. “We get orders to process raw porn shot in remote areas,” the owner of a production company in Agartala told the BBC. He did not want to be named.



“We get a lot more money, much above normal rates, to process these films and deliver a sleek final product. Insurgents are behind these films. When we process their raw stock, we can see boys standing around with automatic rifles and revolvers pulling in girls but we are supposed to cut all that out and just concentrate on the sex,” he told BBC News.





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