GUWAHATI
An association of former extremists in Mizoram has threatened to take action if the government fails to uproot the training camps of a Bangladeshi armed group in the State.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Aizawl-based Peace Accord MNF Returnees’ Association (PAMRA) claimed Chakma rebels from Bangladesh were undergoing military training in the Lunglei and Mamit districts of Mizoram.
The MNF expands to Mizo National Front, which metamorphosed into a political party after signing a peace accord in 1986. Members of the PAMRA are not part of the political party.
“Parbatya Chattogram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS), an organisation of Chakma rebels in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts are currently conducting military training in Mizoram,” the PAMRA said.
The Chakma rebel group is also known as the Santu Larma faction of the Jana Samhati Samiti, it added.
“The training centres are in Salmore, Tara Ban, Chumochumi, Malchari, Bhalukkyachari, and Andar Manek villages in the Lunglei district, and Silsury and Amchari villages in the Mamit district,” the PAMRA statement signed by its general secretary, C. Lalthenlova said.
Malchari has the family quarters of the PCJSS rebels while the outfit’s commander Binanda Chakma and company commander Alo Chakma are in Amchari and Silsury villages respectively, the association said.
The PAMRA said the military training centres of the Bangladesh outfit were not a good sign for Mizoram.
“The State government is requested to stop these rebel training centres. If these rebels are not expelled, the PAMRA will take action as soon as possible,” the association said.
The Zoram People’s Movement government headed by Lalduhoma has not reacted to the PAMRA “alert”. However, conflict specialists in the northeast have been likening Mizoram to the Af-Pak region where Myanmar Army personnel, Chin, Chin-Kuki, and Chakma rebels from Myanmar and Bangladesh have landed along with the refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Chakma rebellion in Bangladesh is said to be rooted in religious and ethnic conflicts, exacerbated by Dhaka’s alleged Islamisation policy. This has led to the displacement of the Chakmas from the Chittagong Hill Tracts and a majority of them have taken refuge in India.
The first batch of Chakmas came to India in the 1960s.