NEW DELHI: Kidnapping isn’t just a new threat in the North-East, it is now endemic. A secret report prepared by security agencies reveals that 182 cases of kidnapping have taken place in the region, including in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur.
The report suggests that 24 people were kidnapped from Assam till September 15 this year, while 45 were abducted from Meghalaya. Tripura appears to be the most peaceful state in the list where only three cases of kidnapping were reported so far this year. The report says the kidnappings of four out of 24 persons in Assam were the handiwork of Karbi People’s Liberation Tiger, a breakaway faction of the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front that has emerged as a new threat in the state. However, 20 others are believed to have been kidnapped by unknown groups for ransom.
In Meghalaya, 17 persons were kidnapped by the Garo National Liberation Army, which was formed in 2009 and has been involved in killings, abductions, extortion, bomb blasts and attacks on security forces, while three people were kidnapped by the Achik Matgrik Elite Force. The report says that 22 people were kidnapped by other unknown networks, while three kidnappings in Tripura were carried out by the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), an active outfit said to have developed trans-border links in Myanmar and Bhutan.
Though the NDA government is in the process of finalising the Centre-NSCN-IM accord, the report suggests that NSCN-IM continues to indulge in abductions in Nagaland. Sixteen people were kidnapped by NSCN-IM in the last eight and half months ,while 22 were abducted by the banned NSCN-Khaplang faction, which ambushed an army convoy on June 4 this year in Chandel in Manipur, killing 18 personnel.