AGARTALA, Oct 14 - Banned outfit National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) has suffered a setback once again as five of its cadres surrendered to Special Branch of State police in a remote Border Outpost (BOP) in North district.
The surrendered militants were identified as self-styled corporal Bisurai Debabarma, Hiralal Tripura, Jalaska Tripura, Rambadal Tripura and Kantamani Tripura.
They deposited one wireless set and some incriminating documents during the surrender. The 7th Bn BSF and 13th Bn Tripura State Rifles have provided logistic support for crossing over Indo-Bangla border to facilitate the surrendered process, according to an official release from police headquarters here on Friday.
Earlier, altogether 32 NLFT cadres along with their families surrendered before the Special Branch on April 11 and five more NLFT cadres joined the mainstream on May last.
The latest surrender is seen as important as the outfit�s strength has been waning with every passing day at a time when the tripartite peace talks are on.
According to the latest inputs, the NLFT has only 65 cadres including front-line leaders in Bangladesh and a major section is not willing to shun the path of violence.
Around 50 per cent rebel leaders and cadres have already got settled in Bangladesh and they don�t want to return home due to various complications, sources said.
Under the rapidly changing scenario, the NLFT leaders are really worried on how to carry forward the tripartite peace talks with the Centre.
After two rounds of peace talks, there is no progress in the process putting a question mark on the success of the �ongoing� peace dialogue.
Following the request of the outfit�s self-styled supremo Biswamohan Debbarma for peace talks, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had sought the State Government�s consent for initiating a dialogue with the outfit.
Although the State Government has agreed on the NLFT�s plea, the ongoing peace talks have not made much progress over the past few months.
