Bangladesh has arrested Ranjan Daimary alias D R Nabla, leader of the hardline faction of Bodo rebels, who has been hiding in the country since 2008, and handed him over to India early Saturday (May 1).
Reports said the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) picked up Daimary and turned him over to the Border Security Force (BSF) near Dawki international border on the Garo Hill district of Meghalaya.
The arrest and very quick repatriation signals deepening of a thaw in India-Bangladesh relations in recent days. Earlier, on December 4 last year (2009), Bangladesh Rifles handed over to India ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, his body guard, Raja Borah and eighth other leaders of the outfit including Raju Baruah.
Daimary is opposed to talks between the government and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), which he himself had floated with like minded people s Boro Security Force on October 3, 1986. Eight years later the outfit changed its name to NDFB and had entered into a ceasefire agreement with the Government on May 25, 2005.
Differences on talks with Delhi had led to a split – one faction supporting the ceasefire, led by B Sungthagra alias Dhirn Boro, and the other other led by Daimary, which called itself the real NDFB. The split came after the October 30, 2008 serial blasts in Assam in which Daimary was a mastermind.
Daimary faction of NDFB has close ties with the Asom rebel outfit, ULFA, and is known to carry out joint operations; it is also known to do ‘job work’ for ULFA. Daimary faction has ties with other North east insurgent groups like Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC), Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K).
The Assam Police have since brought Daimary to Guwahati.
Boros are one of the many indigenous communities who live in Assam in what is known as the ‘Hidden Paradise of Assam’ on the north bank of Brahmaputra river in the state, and by the foothills of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. They have an autonomous council, called Bodoland territorial council to run local self-government in the districts of Kokrajhar, Baksa, Chirang and Udalguri with headquarters at Kokrajhar.
The Daimary faction is fighting for sovereign Bodoland.
