B'desh Govt take tough measures against rebels: Sarkar

Agartala, Sep 6 (UNI) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has urged the Centre to persuade Bangladesh to take strong measures against anti-Indian extremist groups operating from its territory.

Speaking at the Conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security called by the Prime Minister in New Delhi, Mr Sarkar requested the Prime Minister to urge the Bangladeshi counterpart to freeze the bank accounts of the extremists' groups operating from their soil.

He further asked the Centre to take up the matter of deportation of the leaders of underground groups like the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) and National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) with the Bangladeshi Government with utmost sincerity.

'' There are reports that Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan and Directorate General of Field Intelligence (DGFI) of Bangladesh have been providing support to these groups. Mutual understanding between the extremists' groups active in other North Eastern states has added another dimension to this problem,'' the Chief Minister stated.

The Chief Minister further requested the Centre to complete the border fencing with Bangladesh at the earliest so that illegal immigration as well as movement of terrorists could be checked. He also requested to ensure the quality of fencing as there were reports that some parts of the fencing along the Tripura-Bangladesh border had collapsed.

Mr Sarkar requested the Centre to set up remaining 64 Border Outposts (BOPs) along the international border with the neighbouring country. ''At present there are only 181 BOPs. But as per the accepted norms, 245 BOPs are required for covering the entire length of the border. The remaining BOPs should be set up at the earliest,'' Mr Sarkar demanded.

He further requested the Centre to redeploy the CRPF battalion which was withdrawn from the state last July in the wake of the prevailing situation.

Mr Sarkar also mentioned that the Border Security Force (BSF) may be made available for counter insurgency operations as done in other states.

The Chief Minister also demanded the Centre to raise one more Indian Reserve Batallion for the state to supplement the available state and central forces.

'' As far as trans-border extremism is concerned, I would like to reiterate that making a dent in this field would be possible only with active involvement and support of the Central Government,'' remarked Mr Sarkar.

He further requested the Centre to pass the pending bill for amendment to the Indian Forests Act so that the tribals will be benefited. ''Matters related to tribal rights over forest are required to be addressed in a pragmatic manner,'' said the CM.

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