Tripura Ex-Militants Launch 72-Hour Strike Over ₹250 Crore Delay

Protestors claim that despite being appealed and called and written by various government authorities including the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, the Tribal Welfare Department etc., no tangible steps have been made in implementing the promised rehabilitation.

“The peace accord promised an ₹250-crore package to us. Almost 2 years have passed, and nothing has been done. We have maintained contact with the Central and State Governments without a response. This is why we have started this 72-hour strike,” said one protester.

The agitators also spoke with Tribal Welfare Minister Bikash Debbarma on Thursday. But the meeting reportedly produced no solution that actually worked; hence this action started, as the protesters claimed, the protest.

Around 584 militants who had fought from different factions of the NLFT and the ATTF surrendered and returned to the mainstream in September last year. The surrender, which followed the signing of a quadripartite peace agreement between the Central Government and Tripura Government alongside the militant groups.

In a surrender, the cadre surrendered their weapons at Tripura State Rifles 7th Battalion headquarters in Jampuijala, about 40 kilometers from Agartala.

Between the 1980s and the early 2000s, Tripura experienced insurgency-related violence, where for decades both the NLFT and ATTF were the state’s most active militant outfits.

As a result, the NLFT was established in 1989 by Dhananjoy Reang and the ATTF was founded in 1990 by former members of that State's Tripura National Volunteers (TNV).

As a result of their involvement in insurgent and terrorist activities, both organizations were banned by the Government of India in 1997 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

This latest strike has once more highlighted the promise of rehabilitation offered by the peace accord, and the mounting frustration of the former militants who are now holding off until the package is realised.