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KLO chief Jibon Singha who is ready for peace talks, an arrest warrant still hanging at his house No 102 in Alipurduar

KLO chief Jibon Singha who is ready for peace talks, an arrest warrant still hanging at his house No 102 in Alipurduar

In 1991, Singha along with 35 cadres moved towards Bhutan somewhere around Kalikhola where they took training with the help of the 709 Battalion of ULFA and on 28th December 1993 Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) the rebel group was formed.

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 An arrest warrant still hanging at the house of KLO chief in Alipurduar An arrest warrant still hanging at the house of KLO chief in Alipurduar

The story of House number 102 where an arrest warrant is still hanging at North Haldibari in Alipurduar district, the Kamtapur Liberation Organization leader Tushar Das alias Jibon Singha was born in this house.

The head of KLO Jibon Singha, who was once regarded as the troublemaker of Bengal and Assam Police, was born in this house. 

Singha later started a struggling life and moved out of his residentiary around 30 years ago.

Singha completed his master's degree in political science from Siliguri, where he was staying in his maternal uncle's house Singha's financial condition was very poor he teaches lower class students for earning.

After his education, he joined Kamtapur People's Party (KPP) in 1989 and later in 1991 Singha left his home for Nenching Naga-Basti in Mayanmar. Where he joined NSCN-K and ULFA, stayed there for almost 1 month and returned back to West Bengal.

In 1991, Singha along with 35 cadres moved towards Bhutan somewhere around Kalikhola where they took training with the help of the 709 Battalion of ULFA and on 28th December 1993 Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) the rebel group was formed.

Within 2 years, more than 1000 cadres from different areas of Bengal joined the organisation group. At that time ULFA chief Paresh Baruah had an agreement with KLO chief Singha, that they cannot recruit cadres from Pub-Kamtapur and then the undivided Goalpara district where Singha agreed.

In ‘Operation All Clear’ and ‘Operation Flash Out’ were launched by Bhawar and the Bhutanese Army against the KLO and its associates in Bhutan, where KLO chief Singha flew away with his wife and elder daughter towards Bangladesh. In the ambush, KLO almost lost 90 per cent of their arms and ammunition.

On those days, Pub-Kamtapur then undivided Goalpara district, where Nitya Sarkar and Kailash Koch formed another rebel group as they cannot join Singha's rebel group as per ULFA and KLO's agreement.

Between 2004-2005, Nitya Sarkar and Kailash Koch along with 40 cadres secretly joined with the help of NSCN-K in Mayanmar's Taka Camp, where they took training.

In 2006-2007, Jibon Singha accepted Nitya Sarkar and Kailash Koch's team as part of their rebel organisation and make Sarkar as army chief and Koch as General Secretary, where Singha remains as Chairman of the organisation.

Also Read: Nagaland: Kamtapur Liberation Organisation chief Jeevan Singh spotted with mediator Dilip Narayan

West Bengal police arrested Jibon Singha from the Bangladesh border in the year 2007 in a false case of stealing Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel Prize. Singha had to sleep in jail for 13 days in Coochbehar Jail, after which he got bail and comes out from the Jail and moved towards Bangladesh.

In 2009, again Singha along with a few ULFA cadres and her younger daughter got arrested in Bangladesh, where Singha technically held her daughter in her arms and left the police station. Singha along with his wife, two daughters and one Golapi female cadre of KLO flew away to Nepal.

Singha along with Indrajit Roy @ Dabang the ferocious cadre of KLO who was a headache for Bengal and Assam police along with three other cadres entered Bhutan in the year 2010.

In 2013-2014, Singha along with other cadres returned to Taka Camp in Mayanmar, where the Pub-Kamtapur then undivided Goalpara district cadres were hiding in. After the joined ambush of the Mayanmar and Indian Army in 2019 with NSCN-K and KYKL Manipuri rebel organisation, the set-up of KLO moved to different places around Myanmar.

In 2019, Chila Koch from Dhubri along with a few others joined the rebel organisation in Thuilu NSCN-K (General H.Q.), where PDC-K chief J.K. Lizang @ I.K Sangbijit was also there with his troops.

Myanmar army attacked Nenching village near Japan l camp with the NSCN-K operation group, where 44 cadres of the Mayanmar army died without any loss of NSCN-K cadres. Immediately all the rebel groups shifted to different places, where KLO moved 1 and a half kilometres away in the NSCN-K operation battalion camp.

In 2021, the Central Government urged the KLO chief in charge Singha to cease fire and sit in a talk, which took one year for Singha to accept the Government's terms and conditions.

The Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) chief Jibon Singha surrendered on Tuesday in the Nayabasti area near the Myanmar border in the Mon district of Nagaland along with some of his followers.

The villagers of Singha's native place were last scene assembling together in this house amidst the security cordon of the Bengal police in 2014, when Singha's wife Bharati Das died in Nepal and the Bengal administration handed over the dead body to their house in North Haldibari, Alipurduar after a post-mortem examination.

Edited By: Atiqul Habib
Published On: Jan 19, 2023