After ULFA, Centre wants more N-E outfits on US terror list

Encouraged by the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) having sued for peace shortly after making it to the US State Department’s li...

Encouraged by the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) having sued for peace shortly after making it to the US State Department’s list of terrorist organisations, this May, the government now plans to urge the US to put the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) outfits on its terror list.

Senior Home Ministry officials confirmed the move and said the Ministry External Affairs had been provided the details of the terrorist groups.

The ATTF and NLFT already figure in the list of banned organisations under POTA. Sources said the Home Ministry had also started the process of including the KLO on the list.

Story continues below this ad

The ATTF and NLFT are fighting for a separate homeland for tribals in Tripura outside the Indian Union. They also demand that all those who settled in Tripura after 1950 be declared foreigners. While, like ULFA, the two have agreed to negotiate with the Centre, they insist that sovereignty is their key demand.

The KLO is demanding a separate homeland for the Rajbanshi in West Bengal comprising the districts of Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Malda, Jalpaiguri and South Dinajpur.

The ATTF and NLFT function out of Bangladesh and have close links with ULFA. The KLO is also in touch with ULFA, which officials say, has been supplying it weapons and training its men.

The ATTF has its camps in the Chittagong Hill Tracts while the NLFT camps are based in Khagrachari, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Syllet, Maulari Bazar, Habibganj and Comilla.