Bhutan, which has so far not taken action against the separatists, seems all ready to launch a military crackdown on the rebel bases. BHUTAN has decided to raise its own militia to check ULFA, NDFB and KLO operating from bases on its soil.

The government has called for volunteers for the force. "When the security and sovereignty of our country is under threat, the true sons of the soil must step forward and not wait to be called upon to serve their country," King Jigme Singhye Wangchuk was quoted as saying by Kuensel, Bhutan’s national newspaper.

At least 800 men, aged between 18 and 45 years, were ready to join the militia force from Paro district of Bhutan, Dozin Batoo Tshering, a spokesman of the Royal Bhutan Army was quoted by Kuensel as saying.

Addressing a group of people’s representatives at Thimphu, the King said the Indian militants were at war against their own government but they were a threat to Bhutan because they had illegally established camps inside the country.

The outlawed ULFA and the NDFB have well-entrenched bases in Bhutan. The separatist Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) is also there. Bhutan had earlier issued an ultimatum to the Indian rebels to vacate their camps within its borders by June 30, failing which the government threatened to use military might to remove the militants.

Bhutan has admitted that ULFA alone has nine camps in the country, including the outfit’s general headquarters and military training bases inside thick jungles in the southern Samdrup Jhonkar district. The NDFB has eight camps, while the KLO had set up three bases inside the tiny Buddhist kingdom. The king warned that in the event of a ‘conflict’ with the Indian militants, at least 66,000 people spread over ten districts of the country would be at risk.

"The implications would be even greater if the militants came to the other dzongkhags (districts)," the king said. As part of a plan to attract young men to join the counter-insurgency force, the Bhutanese government announced equal remuneration and other benefits for the volunteers like the regular soldiers. "I have no doubt about the thoughts and words of the people wanting to safeguard the security of the country and even expressing their readiness to sacrifice their lives," the king said.

Intelligence officials say there could be more than 4,000 ULFA and NDFB rebels in Bhutan who carry out their hit-and-run guerrilla strikes on Assam. Bhutan has so far not taken direct action against the Indian separatists for fear of retaliatory attacks on its nationals who have to use roads that pass through Indian territory to reach interior parts of the landlocked kingdom. But now Bhutan seems all ready to launch a military crackdown on the rebel bases in its border.

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