The Bodo & Ulfa Problem

Bhutan Bodo & Ulfa Conflict Indian News media: Bhutan launched military action gainst Indian insurgent groups (December 2003) Royal Bhutan Army operation "Flush out" and "Operation All Clear" (Dec 2003)

Monday, December 15, 2003

For the first time, after several repeated complaints by India, the Bhutan government has finally decided to take military action against insurgent groups that are operating from inside Bhutanese territory. External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha announced in Parliament today that Thimpu has already launched the operation. "We have been informed by the Royal Government of Bhutan that they have launched military action today against Indian insurgent groups operating from camps in that country," he said.

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The Government of India "strongly supports this action," Sinha said, adding that Bhutanese King Jigme Singye Wangchuk had telephonically informed Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the impending action on December 13.

The move comes after negotiations between the Indian government and Bhutan and the offensive was finalised last week.

"The Prime Minister had conveyed to His Majesty the King that the government and people of India stand firmly behind the Royal Government of Bhutan at this critical juncture and will give all support as requested," External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said.

India has repeatedly conveyed to Bhutan its serious concerns over the activities of insurgent groups like the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO). These groups, along with the Bodo insurgent group NDFB had established camps inside that country and were carrying out arms training of their cadres for anti-India operations.

The military offensive by the Bhutanese government is likely to dent the operations of these groups, which include

- United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) - an insurgent group fighting for a separate homeland in Assam.

- National Democratic Front of Bodoalnd (NDFB) - a Bodo insurgent group fighting for a separate Bodoland north of the river Brahmaputra in Assam.

- Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) - a North Bengal-based insurgent group with the objective of carving out a separate Kamatapur state from districts in North Bengal and lower Assam.

These groups are known to have about 30 camps in the dense forests of southern Bhutan that border Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. According to unconfirmed reports, the ULFA alone is believed to have over several hundred cadres who are being trained in the Bhutan camps. Members of the ULFA, NDFB and KLO are believed to be working in close coordination with each other and are even reported to have pooled in resources for operating the training camps inside Bhutanese territory. In the past, the Bhutan government had appealed to the insurgent groups to leave the country but their efforts were in vain. Earlier in November, several senior Bhutan government officials had met leaders of the insurgent groups to try and persuade them to leave Bhutan peacefully.

Security agencies involved in counter-insurgency operations in the north east had always been frustrated by the ease with which these militants used to slip into Bhutan every time they took action. The latest offensive by the Bhutan government may put an end to the safe haven for the insurgents in the jungles of Bhutan, but the big question still remains on the whereabouts of the ULFA big guns - people like Arabinda Rajkhowa and Paresh Barua. Now, the army has been stationed along the border areas of Assam from Kokrajhar to Tezpur to prevent militants from sneaking into Assam, and to nab any militants seeking to escape the Royal Bhutan Army's action.

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