The Hindu : `Many missing in North-East'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 02, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

`Many missing in North-East'

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 1. A human rights group has alleged that a number of persons were missing after the Royal Bhutan Army carried out operations against insurgent groups operating in North-Eastern States. It has demanded that both the Bhutanese Government and the Central Government should publish a list of those who were either killed or detained during the operation.

On December 15 last year, the Royal Bhutan Army with tactical support from the Indian Army had launched a military operation on the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFD) and the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) in Bhutan which lasted for around a month, said C.C. Surjeet, the chairman of the Assam-based North East Co-ordination Committee on Human Rights.

"During the operation, the Royal Bhutan Army killed a number of activists as well as their family members. Over 300 people were either captured or forced to surrender by them, and despite appeals from several human rights groups, they handed them to the Indian Army without following any international laws. Among them were those who are since reported missing. We have a list of 20 such people but what is feared is that many more might be in illegal detention of either the Indian Army or with their Bhutanese counterparts," he alleged.

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