By IANS,
Guwahati: Curtains have came down on one of Assam’s mosty violent tribal insurgencies with a banned militant outfit formally disbanding Wednesday following the mass surrender of all its cadres and leaders.
A total of 568 militants of the outlawed United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), a rebel group active in the eastern district of Karbi Anglong, laid down arms at a formal surrender ceremony at the district headquarters of Diphu, about 250 km from here.
“This is a historic day as we all have formally joined the mainstream. From today, the UPDS does not exist,” UPDS chairman Longsudhar Senar said.
The rebels laid down a large cache of assorted weapons and ammunition before Assam Police chief Shankar Baruah and senior army and civil officials.
“We are happy to say that like the Mizo National Front in Mizoram and the Bodo Liberation Tigers in Assam, the UPDS too has surrendered en masse to join the mainstream. We hope permanent peace would dawn in the Karbi Anglong district,” the Assam Police chief said.
The en masse surrender follows a tri-partite accord signed between the UPDS, the Assam and the central government last month under which it was agreed to offer the rebels a politico-administrative structure with more autonomy.
The UPDS was formed in March 1999 with the merger of two separatist outfits in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district, the Karbi National Volunteers and Karbi People’s Front.
The outfit signed a cease-fire agreement with New Delhi in 2002. However, this led to a split in the UPDS with one faction deciding to continue with its subversive activities while the other commenced negotiations with the government.
Currently, there are two factions: pro-talks and anti-talks. On May 16, 2004, the UPDS (Anti-Talks) rechristened itself as the Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front and its armed wing as the Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Resistance Force.
The KLNLF too is now operating a ceasefire with the government.