By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS,
Guwahati : Southern India has become the new destination for separatist groups from the northeast with intelligence inputs that rebel leaders from the region were taking shelter in cities down south, especially Bangalore, following intense pressure from security forces, a senior police official said.
Leaders of outlawed militant groups from Assam like the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) have made some south Indian cities their new bases.
“We have definite reports of some senior and middle level leaders of the ULFA and the NDFB escaping from Assam and taking shelter in south India. We cannot divulge any more details about the cities and other information for security reasons,” Assam Police chief G.M. Srivastava told IANS.
“We are in touch with our counterparts in south India to zero in on the militant leaders based in those cities.”
Bangalore is one such city linked to separatists from the northeast — last month two senior leaders of the outlawed Black Widow, a rebel group from Assam, including its commander-in-chief Jewel Garlosa, were arrested there.
Garlosa had travelled from Kathmandu to Bangalore where he was trying to get a passport in his name.
Earlier this month, police arrested Roshan Ali, alias Anees, from Manipur and leader of the People’s United Liberation Front (PULF) at Singanapalya near Mahadevpura in Bangalore. Ali moved to Bangalore last year and worked as a security guard for an MNC.
The PULF is a Muslim-based rebel group from Manipur.
Last year, three militants of the outlawed People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) of Manipur, and three of their associates were arrested in Bangalore.
The PREPAK members were arrested from their rented house in Kaggadasapura, about 15 km from the city centre. Their associates were picked up from another house in the nearby Mahadevapura area.
“Militants from the northeast travel to south India to cool their heels when security offensive in the region gathers momentum. Now police and intelligence agencies have unravelled the modus operandi of the militants,” a senior police official in Manipur said.
Intelligence sources said apart from Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai are two other destinations for northeastern rebel groups, though they declined to give details.
(Syed Zarir Hussain can be contacted at [email protected])