Assam Rifles 'Captured' KLO chief ,Ready for Peace talks
Tansukia: Kumtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) chief Jeevan Singha alias Jeevan Koch Timir Das has reportedly surrendered to Assam Rifles in the Indo-Myanmar border area of Longwa on Friday and is likely to join the Center and the state. will join the “Peace Talks”.
The breakthrough came within five months when two top KLO militants – Kailash Koch, the outfit’s second most important leader, and his wife Jugli – surrendered before the DGP of West Bengal Police in Kolkata. Day and a few days later, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma invited. Organization for “Peace Talks”.
Formed in 1995 with members of the Koch Rajbangshi community, the KLO is demanding a separate state comprising Cooch Behar, Malda, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri districts and parts of Assam.
Top intelligence agency sources confirmed that KLO Chief Singha has surrendered to the Assam Rifles in Nagaland. “Singha has been involved in several KLO operations in Assam and West Bengal and was reported to have imparted weapons training to hundreds of youths who joined the outfit”.
Confirming the development, another source in a central intelligence agency told this correspondent that the group led by Singha entered Mon in Nagaland district from its base in Myanmar and was heading towards Delhi.
“It (the group) surrendered in front of the 27 Assam Rifles camp before going to Delhi,” the source said, adding, “Everything is being done secretly.”
No official confirmation has been issued by any agency.
According to available evidence, the KLO had close ties with the ULFA from the days when both organizations operated out of Bhutan, and the latter trained KLO militants.
Over the past year, several BJP leaders in Bengal have been saying that the central and Assam governments have succeeded in forcing the KLO to join peace talks and return to the mainstream, but a top KLO leader The surrender of Mamata Banerjee and her government gave an additional advantage.
Assam Chief Minister Sarma had claimed that the KLO was interested in peace talks and the Sangha confirmed its desire to join peace talks in a series of video statements released in 2022.
The development carries political significance and comes amid a political tussle between the PM Modi-led Center and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in West Bengal.
