Didn't surrender but signed ceasefire deal to find solution, says NDFB (S) chief

The chief of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) (S), a militant group in Assam, B Saoraigwra on Friday said the outfit did not surrender but signed a ceasefire or a tripartite suspension of operation agreement to find a solution to the long Bodo conflict.

"We have not surrendered but entered into peace talks with honour and dignity and as a separate entity for resolution of the Bodo issue by obliging to the Constitution of India", Saoraigwra, who signed the ceasefire agreement on Thursday, told DH over the phone from New Delhi. It was signed by Satyendra Garg, joint secretary (Northeast), Ministry of Home Affairs, Ashutosh Agnihotri, Commissioner and Secretary of Assam Home and Political Department and Saoraigwra.

Saoraigrwa, along with a few other leaders, and nearly 50 NDFB (S) cadres had left their camps in Myanmar and reached Assam on Sunday, a day before he was flown to New Delhi. The rebel leader refuted the reports about their surrender, which was doing the rounds.

Comprehensive Agreement:

The Centre is likely to sign a "comprehensive agreement" before January 26 with all four factions of the NDFB to find a permanent solution to the Bodo conflict.

Formed in 1986 with a demand for a sovereign state for the Bodo community, the outfit was later divided into different factions. Three other factions are already in the ceasefire agreement and are engaged in peace talks for years but the Ministry of Home Affairs was reluctant to sign a treaty till the faction led by Saoraigwra joined the process. The groups, however, have scaled down their demand and are now demanding a separate Bodoland state bifurcating Assam.

Saoraigwra replaced I K Songbijit as president of the group months after it was held responsible for the killing of 84 Adivasis in December 2014 in Kokrajhar and Sonitpur districts in Assam. The Centre had ordered an all-out operation against the group, in which over 60 were killed and more than 500 arrested so far. The rebel group at present has over 450 cadres.

The outfit came forward for talks after North East Heritage Foundation, an NGO led by Prithviraj Narayan Dev Mech, the descendant of the erstwhile Bodo king and its executive director, Thulunga Basumatary, an IIT Madras alumnus visited Myanmar and talked to them. The two young leaders accompanied Saoraigwra and his wife Phungbili Basumatary from Myanmar.

"We took the initiative to bring them back to the mainstream for political betterment of the Bodoland region and bring an end to long conflicts. There are no other groups left outside now and we hope for a respectable solution to the issues of the Bodos," said Prithviraj, who is also in New Delhi with the rebel leader.

Hagrama Mohilary, a former militant-leader-turned politician, who heads the Bodoland Territorial Council had earlier said he had also talked and persuaded Saoraigrwa. Mohilary, who led Bodo Liberation Tigers, another similar militant group, had laid down arms and signed the Bodo Accord in 2003. He contested election of Bodoland Territorial Council, an autonomous council under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and became its chief executive member. Mohilary's party, Bodoland People's Front, is now an ally of BJP-led government in Assam.