Tripura militant outfit to hold talks with governments (Lead, correcting dateline)

Militant outfit National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) will hold tripartite talks with the central and Tripura governments in Shillong on April 4, an official said here on Thursday.

"The NLFT led by its self-styled chief Biswamohan Debbarma expressed its willingness to the central government a few months back to hold talks. The union home ministry sought opinion of the state government in this regard. The Tripura government gave positive response," a top Tripura home department official told IANS on condition of anonymity.

"A tripartite meeting between officials of the central and Tripura governments and leaders of NLFT militant group is likely to be held in Shillong," the official said.

It was not clear why the tripartite talks are to be held in Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya, and not in Agartala or New Delhi.

The Tripura government told the union home ministry that it welcomed any move of militants to come to the mainstream of life after eschewing violence, the official said.

Members of Tripura's two militant groups - NLFT and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) - shelter and avail arms training in Bangladesh, which shares 856-km border with Tripura.

Both outfits, banned in 1997, have set up bases in Bangladesh and get support from other separatist groups of northeast India. They have been demanding secession of Tripura from India.

As most of the ATTF cadres have surrendered in Tripura, the outlawed outfit is almost non-existent now.

According to a union home ministry report, the central government currently has ceasefire agreement with five terrorist outfits of Assam, two in Manipur and all the three factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland.

The central government has implemented a scheme for surrender-cum-rehabilitation of militants of northeastern region since 1998.

Under this, a one-time grant of Rs.1.5 lakh, monthly stipend of Rs.3,500 per militant cadre, and incentives for deposited weapons are given to surrendered extremists as a rehabilitation package.

The report said: "In case of Manipur, one time grant of Rs.2.5 lakh and monthly stipend of Rs.4,000 per militant cadre are given to surrendered militants under a special surrender-cum-rehabilitation scheme formulated in 2012."

During the financial year 2013-14, a sum of Rs.15.55 crore was released to the northeastern states for payment of stipend to surrendered extremists, it added.