Agartala: TUIPC holds protest, demands rehabilitation of former militants

With the Lok Sabha polls on the anvil, a large number of surrendered militants took part in a protest here Friday demanding proper rehabilitation and withdrawal of cases as per the terms and conditions of the government's rehabilitation policy.

"The organisation includes former militants from 48 different groups who came to lead a normal life after the government called for shunning violence and returning to normal life. Unfortunately, they did not get a proper rehabilitation package and in accordance to the terms and conditions, pending cases against them were not withdrawn," said Denial Borok, organisational secretary of Tripura United Indigenous People's Council (TUIPC), said.

Borok said that 84 of these militants are still in jail and around 9,000 cases are pending.

"Our organisation has a 20-point charter demanding implementation of the rehabilitation package beside free education and hostel facilities for the children of these former militants in Agartala and capitals of various the northeastern states and a 100-bed hospital for them," he said.

"We have been waiting for more 28 years for the central government to implement the terms and conditions but many of them are yet to be implemented...We have collected all the pending cases and submitting them to the Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Debbarma and state Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath," said Ananta Debbarma, president, TUIPC.

"The previous government at the Centre and in the state, were not serious with the demands and especially those related to the indigenous people's rights. After our BJP government came to power, steps are being taken for empowerment of the tribal people," said Jishnu Debbarma while addressing the gathering.

The Deputy Chief Minister also said that he would look into the memorandum, discuss it and take possible initiatives.

Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath said that after the BJP-IPFT government assumed office, 925 cases pending against militants have been withdrawn.

He said when the operation of the Model Code of Conduct ends, the state Cabinet would again sit to decide the future plan on the issue.