Northeast Indian freedom fighters move bases to Burma

Northeast Indian freedom fighters move bases to Burma

Rebel groups from northeast India, including the United Liberation Front of Assam, the National Liberation Front of Tripura,....

Dhaka: Rebel groups from northeast India, including the United Liberation Front of Assam, the National Liberation Front of Tripura, and the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front have moved their bases to Burma from Bangladesh after Bangladesh authorities cracked down on their activities, according to official reports.

Officials said that northeast Indian insurgent groups have now been shifting their bases to Burma from Bangladesh after extreme pressure from Bangladesh authorities.

Bangladesh authorities recently destroyed three camps of the NLFT in Khagrachari District of the Chittagong Hill Tracts near the Indian border. They reconstructed the camps inside Burma, which shares a 1,650-kilometer border with India, the report said.

Bangladesh authorities also recently arrested some leaders of the ULFA in Bangladesh, who are now facing several charges in Bangladesh courts.

The report said that the Indian government has taken up the issue of the rebel groups moving into Burma with the Burmese military junta.

Burmese military authorities have several times promised the Indian government they would expel the insurgent groups from Burma, but is yet to take any action. Because of this, the Indian freedom fighters have been able to operate from Burmese soil for a long time.

The Indian rebel groups like the ULFA, KNLF, and NLFA stayed in hideout camps in the remote frontiers of Bangladesh to wage war against the Indian government for independence for the past few years before the recent crackdown by Bangladesh authorities. The minority groups in northeast India have been struggling for independence from India for nearly four decades because of human rights violations in their states by Indian law enforcement agencies.