KLO makes Jiban Singha photo public after 16 years

Pinak Priya Bhattacharya, TOI, Dec 29, 2015,Jalpaiguri: Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), the banned Rajbongshi outfit fighting for a separate sovereign Kamtapur nation, has published a photograph of a hidden camp believed to be somewhere in Myanmar on their Martyrs' Day. The picture shows the outfit's self-styled chairman Jiban Singha standing with one of his soldiers in front of a banner.

This is Singha's first photo recorded since 1999. The last photo showed him with a mustache while the one sent on Sunday shows a clean-shaven Singha, who has also put on quite a bit of weight.

Milton Burma, the dreaded militant who was the outfit's commander-in-chief who was neutralized during the Bhutan offensive in December 2003, recognized Singha in the picture.

"I had last seen him in June-July 2003 when we lived in camps in the Bhutan hills. In December, I was arrested. As far as I know, this is the chairman's first picture since 1999," Burma said. A few intelligence agencies have also confirmed the man in the photograph as Singha.

The outfit has also sent a press release along with the photos where Singha has vowed to continue with the arms struggle against India to achieve the outfit's goal of carving out a separate Kamtapur state. He also appealed to leaders of Ulfa(I), NSCN (Khaplang) and NDFB (Saoraigwra) to come to their help.These insurgent outfits, along with KLO, had formed the United National Liberation Front of Wesea (Western South East Asia) on April 17 this year, aiming to 'free the northeast from the clutches of India'.

KLO, banned in India, has longstanding ties with militant groups from the northeast. It has developed close links with NSCN (Khaplang) for training, weapons and funds. Ulfa leader Paresh Baruah was instrumental in building up this relation.

After the formation of the United National Liberation Front of Wesea, the outfit's first subversive activity was an attack on an Army convoy in Manipur where 12 jawans were killed.

In their press release, KLO, which is banned in India, has declared that it will continue to work against the occupancy of the indigenous people's land, making them a minority in their own land.

"We are taking the matter very seriously. We will seek help of experts to find if this picture is of Jiban Singha," said Jalpaiguri SP Akash Magharia. 

The KLO was formed on December 28, 1995 with an objective to carve out a separate Kamtapur state comprising seven districts of Bengal (Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda) and four contiguous districts of Assam (Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara). The outfit was formed to address the problems of the Koch Rajbongshi people such as large-scale unemployment, land alienation, perceived neglect of Kamtapuri language, identity and grievances of economic deprivation. Now they aim at a separate sovereign nation.