Even as the Left Front government the most of its inadequate security resources to combat this spurt of extremist atrocities as well as the motivated vengeful violence of mercenary miscreants, complementing one another in the over all conspiracy of the vested interests to vitiate the run up to the ensuing elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council(TTAADC), suspected NLFT extremists ambushed a convoy of state security forces at Kalyanpur police station area under Khowai sub-division, West Tripura, in an obvious bid to prevent them from setting up a security camp in the area. Barely two days after the spewing of venom against the Tripura State Rifles (TSR) by the NLFT backed political offshoot, IPFT at a press conference at Agartala, the extremists ambushed on April 17 at Shantinagar near Kalyanpur, killed two jawans of TSR alongwith one state police constable, and injured 11 others including the officer in charge of Kalyanpur police station. Within 3 hours of this incident, a group of nontribal miscreants arrived from outside the area, and set aflame the house of 14 tribal families residing at Sonatala, the site of the ambush. A 120 year old tribal woman was burnt alive in the fire.
At midday on April 17, while returning to Kalyanpur from a visit of Shantinagar area for site selection in order to set up a security camp there, the convoy of SDPO, Khowai, OC, Kalyanpur PS and Commander, ALFA company of TSR 3^rd Battalion, was ambushed by a group of sophisticatedly armed extremists from two sides of a hillock. The SDPO had a hairbreadth escape and the OC was struck by bullet on the leg. One TSR jawan died on the spot dropping down from the one-toner vehicle in which the TSR jawans were escorting the officers. The rain of extremist bullets severely injured 12 others out of whom a TSR jawan and a constable of Kalyanpur PS succumbed to their injuries while being brought to GB hospital of Agartala later on. After being attacked, the TSR jawans promptly took cover and fought back by returning fire. Following an encounter of half an hour, the extremists retreated. The jawans saw one extremist being carried on shoulder and three others writhing in pain while running away, as proof of fatal injury of atleast 4 extremists. NLFT extremists were active in the area prior to the incident leading to the belief among knowledgeable circles that the ambush was a pre-planned effort at forestalling the setting up a security camp in the area. The two pronged strategies of the conspirators against peace and harmony worked within three hours of the ambush, the houses of 14 local tribesmen being gutted by outsider nontribal miscreants, burning alive a 120 year old tribal woman.
In separate statements, chief minister Manik Sarkar and the state Left Front committee have vehemently condemned the ambush as well as the arson. The chief minister has voiced his government’s vow to foil the nefarious design, of the vested interests while the left front views April 17 incidents as part of the series of publicity and terror campaign of militants and their political counterparts to spark ethnic spite during he run up to the ensuing ADC polls, and to prevent free and fair elections. Meanwhile, a total and peaceful 12 hour bandh called by the left front, reflected the state’s vehement protest against the centre’s nonchalant apathy towards the state government’s repeated demand for military and adequate para-military forces to combat the menace resulting from a symbiosis of outlawed extremists and overground political forces in Tripura.
Reviving the grim memories of the run-up to the 1988 assembly elections in Tripura, NLFT gunmen killed eight innocent non-tribal men and women including a 6 year old child last night at Laxmipur village under Kanchanpur sub-division North Tripura within barely 4 days of exactly similar slaughter of 12 innocent nontribal people by ATTF extremists at Kalyanpur under Khowai sub-division West Tripura. Both the incidents of carnage were coupled with arson.
At about 9 p.m on April 19, gun-toting NLFT extremists raided the village and started firing at random upon the houses, Terror-stricken at the abrupt attack, men and women scampered out of their houses and were instantly mowed down by extremist bullets. Among the seven killed three were women and one is a six-year-old child. Another villager, a young man severely injured in the shootout, is now battling for life in hospital.
Incidentally, a total of about 100 innocent nontribal people were slaughtered by the then TNV extremists in several attacks spread over one month ahead of the 1988 assembly election in Tripura in a bid to frenzy the public and falsify the polls with a view to overthrowing the left front government. The bloody design met a marginal success through a unilateral clampdown of Disturbed Areas Act on the entire state by the centre at the eleventh hour and the unprecedented rigging of a crucial counting process by the Congress-TUJS goons in the consequent chaos. Now with the elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) slated for April 30 and May 3, IPFT, the protégé of the outlawed NLFT extremist outfit, has been stalking the hills of Tripura to bag ballots by means of bullets, while the other outlawed extremist outfit, ATTF has given a call for boycott of the polls. The blood of numerous innocent people of the state is being split in the process. Significantly enough, with a view to ensuring the victory in the TTAADC polls, TUJS, TNV, Trinamul Congress and BJP have also given a call for poll boycott and have taken the strategy to help movement of extremists and hinder the left front’s poll rallies, through diversionary attacks by the party musclemen. On April 19 , a group of Trinamul Congress goons ransacked the vehicle of CPI(M) leaders and seriously wounded a veteran member of the party Sadar divisional committee in an attack carried out on false pretext, while the party Sadar divisional secretary Samir Chakraborty, along with some other party leaders were returning to Agartala after attending a pre-scheduled poll rally at Simna under Sadar sub-division, West Tripura, all these orchestrated atrocities by anti-left front fissiparous forces are being bolsterd by the centre’s blatant apathy to the state government’s repeated demand for deployment of army in Tripura to combat insurgency.
However, the state police and Tripura State Rifles(TSR) jawans, with active cooperation from local people, have carried out quite a number of successful counter insurgency operations in the state over the last one year and a half. Yesterday, a hardcore NLFT extremist was killed in an encounter with TSR jawans at Biakhora under Belonia sub-division, South Tripura. Two guns, one of them factory made, a sophisticated radio set and other materials including incriminating documents, were recovered.