Ex-rebels offer to ''surrender'' to rivals for peace

Kokrajhar, May 28 (UNI) In a little expected development, Bodoland autonomous council chief and former militant leader Hagrama Mohilary today offered to ''surrender'' before the rival NDFB, a militant group in ceasefire, to bring peace among feuding Bodo factions.

''The ex-BLT leaders are contemplating to talk to the NDFB to sort out our problems to put an end to the bloodshed in Bodoland,'' Mr Mohilary said here.

He said the former BLT cadres were living in fear for their lives and had been forced to live in hiding and constantly on the run.

''The NDFB cadres have been threatening and killing ex-BLT cadres and it is not possible to provide armed protection to everyone,'' he said.

Mr Mohilary said the NDFB would be approached for negotiations to restore peace in Bodoland.

''We will surrender before the NDFB for the sake of peace,'' he added.

The former Bodoland Liberation Tiger (BLT) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) cadres had been engaged in retaliatory violence in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Area (BTAD), leaving a trail of death and destruction.

Mr Mohilary, who now heads the Bodoland Territorial Council and is the coalition partner of the Congress at Dispur, was the chief of the BLT, which had returned to the mainstream in 2004, while the NDFB is in a ceasefire.

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