North East News Agency

At least 90 tribal separatists, including four women surrendered in Tripura.

Tripura police chief Ghan-sliyam Murari Srivastava said 57 of the rebels were from the outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and the remaining belonged to the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF).The rebels handed over a Iiiigc cache of arms and explosives, including 13 AK-47 assault rifles, carbines, grenades and detonators.We were treated like slaves by our leaders and they often mrsbehaved with us in the camps located inside the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh,ˇ¨ said Rashirung Tripura, a young woman rebel who surrendered. ˇ§Frustration was the main reason for us to surrender, ˇ¨ they said.

The surrendered rebels would be rehabilitated under a government scheme. ˇ§These militants have surrendered realising the futility of an armed struggle. We shall try    and provide them with all facilities like imparting vocational training,   so that they can stand on their    own and start life afresh,ˇ¨ the police chief said.

Many of the .surrendered rebels said the two groups maintain well-entrenched bases inside dense jungles in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. ˇ§We operated from Bangladesh all these years and most of the arms training camps   and normal bases were inside the CHT area,ˇ¨ another surrendered rebel said.

Both the NLFT and the ATTF are fighting for independent tribal homelands in Tripura and operate their hit-and-run guerrilla strikes on security forces from their bases in Bangladesh. However, Dhaka denies the presence of any Indian rebel bases in its territory.

The surrendered rebels took an oath of allegiance to the Constitution and that they would eschew violence. Srivastava said that there was frustation in the rank and file of the insurgents following internal dissension and disparity in the living standards of cadres.

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