20 Feb :Indian militants are fleeing from their camps in Bangladesh after the Sheikh Hasina regime came to power, the BSF said."Indian militants in Bangladesh are aware of the changing scenario after the change of regime there. It may be that they (militants) have made up their minds and taking all these actions," BSF Inspector General (Assam and Meghalaya frontier) Prithvi Raj said in Shillong on Friday.
His statement comes in the backdrop of the arrest of nine militants along the Indo-Bangla border in Meghalaya and the surrender of 118 separatists who reportedly fled their Bangladesh camps in Tripura in the past few days.
During interrogation, some arrested PLA cadres said the militants in Bangladesh were shifting their camps from the Chittagong Hill Tracts to Myanmar.
"Apparently there is an indication that there is a change in attitude of the Bangladesh government. But the change is yet to be reflected in hard action against the militants…. We would be happy if pressure is mounted on the militants," the BSF IG said.
Five top rebels, including two woman cadres, of the Manipur’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) were arrested by BSF when they were entering Meghalaya from Bangladesh.One of them, Krishna Mohan Singh, is a ‘captain’ of the group’s finance wing and another, Susil, was a ‘sergeant major’.
The two, their wives — also active PLA cadres — were apprehended along with a Bangladeshi trans-border courier identified as Khalif Miya. Six mobile sets and Rs 33,000 cash were seized.
Also, 118 cadres belonging to the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) surrendered in Tripura last Saturday.
He said the BSF in the Assam and Meghalaya frontier has tightened vigil along the Indo-Bangla border deploying nine additional companies to prevent militants from sneaking into India.