After more than six months of “missing”, the rebel group Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) general secretary Kailash Koch alias Keshab Roy surrendered on Thursday in front of the West Bengal Police. The DGP welcomed the rebel leader after his surrender.
Amidst the process of initiating peace talks between the government and KLO, there were reports surfacing in the media that the Bangladesh Armed Force on last February 9 had arrested Kailash somewhere in Bangladesh.
The KLO had earlier claimed that Kailash, the first-line leader of the rebel group, and his family were being held in a secret place and tortured. However, administration sources do not confirm such claims.
After the surrender, Kailash said, “We have given up arms because that was not the path. We have come on Mamata Banerjee’s call. My wife and I returned to the mainstream of society and surrendered to return to normal life. I have been in an armed struggle for 16 years. Therefore, it is important to understand that no development is possible through violence. I call on all my friends and brothers who are still armed in the jungle to lay down their arms and return.”
“Leave that path and come, the government has the policy to follow that come and surrender. Others will also come I believe,” said DGP Manoj Malviya, who welcomed Kailash and his family.
Since the last year, after Himanta Biswa Sarma took oath as Chief Minister of Assam, the outfit had expressed its desire to come to the peace talks which was welcomed by him.
Meanwhile, a top intelligence official of the Assam Police said, “We are checking the case history of Kailash whether any case is registered or not against him. If any, we will take the next course of action.”
As per the report, Kailash belongs to Serfanguri area tha comes under the Kokrajarh district of Assam.
According to sources, more KLO leaders are in touch with the Bengal government and will also surrender. KLO leader Jiban Singha, however, circulates video demanding separation but Kailash’s surrender will be seen as a big blow to their movement, believes experts.
The KLO is a far-left rebel group based in western Assam and Bengal, whose objective is to liberate Kamtapur from India. The proposed state is to comprise six districts in West Bengal and four contiguous districts of Assam which are Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North and south Dinajpur and Malda, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara, Kishanganj districts in Bihar, and Jhapa district in Nepal.
The KLO was formed to address problems of the Koch Rajbongshi people such as large-scale unemployment, land alienation, perceived neglect of the Kamtapuri language, identity, and grievances of economic deprivation. The KLO came into existence on December 28, 1995.
Tamir Das alias Jibon Singha Koch is the chairman of the KLO. He was arrested in October 1999 but regained control over the outfit after he was released by the Assam Police in a bid to make the other KLO cadres surrender.
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