In a significant move, the Centre and the Tripura government will sign pact with two armed groups. A Memorandum of Settlement today is to take place with the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF).
The signing will take place in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, and senior officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Tripura government.
During a ceremony at the North Block on Wednesday afternoon parties will formalize the agreement. This pact follows an earlier tripartite agreement signed on August 10, 2019, between the Centre, the Tripura government, and a faction of the NLFT. After that agreement, 88 NLFT cadres surrendered, handing over their arms and ammunition to the Tripura government.
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The government provided these surrendered cadres with benefits under the Surrender-cum-Rehabilitation Scheme, 2018, which included housing, recruitment in government jobs, education, and skill development training.
Both the NLFT and ATTF have been banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act since 1997 due to their involvement in violence, with numerous insurgency incidents between 2005 and 2015 leading to the loss of lives among security forces and civilians.
However, peace talks with the NLFT initiated in 2015 have resulted in no major violence by the group since 2016.
The Ministry of Home Affairs emphasized that this agreement aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a developed, extremism-free northeast. Under Modi’s leadership, the government has signed 12 key agreements aimed at bringing peace and prosperity to the region, including three related to Tripura.
As a result of these agreements, around 10,000 cadres across the northeastern states, including Assam and Tripura, have surrendered and joined the mainstream.