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Tripura government to reconsider using NSA

The Left Front government in Tripura is to reconsider the use of the National Security Act against the militants in the state after the prime minister made a suggestion in this regard.

Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said this after returning after meeting Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Home Minister L K Advani.

Speaking to reporters here, Sarkar said he told Vajpayee that the NSA was not in force in the state. When the prime minister talked of using NSA against the militants, Sarkar told him the state government would reconsider it.

The state government had also suggested that the Centre amend the Criminal Procedure Code so that it could be used against arrested militants, Sarkar said, adding that the state government had already replied to certain queries from the Centre.

On the opposition demand to publish a white paper on the extremist activities in the state, he said it could be published after incorporating the latest developments.

Sarkar said the Centre and the state government would jointly tackle the problem of militancy since the state could not alone curb extremism. "Counter-insurgency operation should be intensified and the vigil along the Indo-Bangla border with Tripura was tightened immediately since the militants are saying that the real war would start from 2000."

Giving details of his meetings with the prime minister and the home minister, he said: "I am assured of getting all help from the Centre to flush out the militants in the state and I shall express my happiness when the militant violence stops completely."

Sarkar said the prime minister had assured him that the Centre would ask the Bangladesh government to demolish 29 camps of Tripura militants in their territory.

Home ministry officials, including Union Home Secretary Kamal Pandey, met Tripura Chief Secretary V Thulasidas and Director-General of Police K T D Singh in New Delhi on November 22 to review the situation in the state. The home ministry officials would soon visit the state for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.

The vigil along the Indo-Bangla border with Tripura is to be tightened and the number of border outposts in the sensitive points increased to curb cross border movement in the state, Sarkar said.

He also requested the Union home minister to convene a meeting of the chief ministers of all seven north-eastern states to discuss the problem of militancy and to formulate a co-ordinated approach against the rebels.

Sarkar said the Centre and the planning commission had appreciated the state government's 25-point development plan for the state's backward tribals.

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