Thaindian News

Agartala/Shillong, Aug 18 (IANS) The chief ministers of northeastern states have asked for tightening of security along India’s border with Bangladesh and Myanmar, with the boundaries being frequently misused by insurgents from the region.
India should persuade Bangladesh through national and international channels to prevent terrorists from the northeast from taking shelter in that country, says Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

“New Delhi should sign an extradition treaty with Dhaka to get back militants detained by Bangladesh authorities,” Sarkar said while addressing the meeting a conference on internal security which was attended by chief ministers and home ministers in New Delhi Monday.

Sarkar, who returned here Tuesday, told the meeting: “Last month seven dreaded guerrillas of the Manipur-based People’s United Liberation Front (PULF), having established links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and (who were) trained in Bangladesh, were arrested in Agartala while in transit from across the border.”

“This again confirmed that Bangladesh continues to be the place of shelter for northeast militants, with Tripura being used as a corridor for their movement.”

Inaugurating the one-day conference, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said the northeast needed to emphasise on proactive state police forces instead of exclusively relying on the central paramilitary forces and the army.

Tripura is the only state in the northeast where militancy has been curbed to a large extent with two-and-a-half decades of terrorism now showing signs of abating.

Sarkar urged the centre to take up with Dhaka problems arising out of the continued insistence of Bangladesh on erecting the border fence 150 yards away from the zero line.

“For effective guarding of the Indo-Bangla border with Tripura, an additional 40 border outposts should be set up and an additional five battalions of the Border Security Force (BSF) should be deployed,” Sarkar said.

Meghalaya Chief Minister D.D. Lapang has asked the centre to create two more police battalions to check cross-border infiltration, a special commando battalion to fight militancy and a counter-insurgency warfare institution to provide training for police personnel in the state.

Lapang said border fencing with Bangladesh and the inter-state boundary dispute with Assam had become a cause for concern in Meghalaya.

Arunachal Pradesh has asked the Indian government to seal the entire stretch of the 440-km-long India-Myanmar border along the state in order to check the movement of insurgent outfits.

“We must be conscious of the fact that geographically northeastern states share only two percent of their boundary with the country while 98 percent is shared with neighbouring countries like Myanmar, Bhutan, China and Bangladesh,” Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Jarbom Gamlin said.

“The possible nexus among various outfits poses a grave security threat to the nation and it has to be eliminated at any cost,” Gamlin, who represented Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, said while addressing conference.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said: “There will be no leniency on anti-social elements such as armed militants, unlicensed arms holders and illicit arms dealers, who pose a threat to the peace and tranquility of our mountainous state.”

India’s northeast includes Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim.