Training: KLO camp then, police now

A group of former KLO militants at a training session in Alipurduar. Picture by Anirban Choudhury

ANIRBAN CHOUDHURY Aug 09, 2018: 1996: Piping, Bhutan: Milton Burma, a 22-year-old youth, woke up at 5am and queued up for training. He was one of those youths who had decided to resort to armed struggle for statehood.

2018: Parade Ground, Alipurduar: Mihir Das, a 45-year-old man, is on the ground at 6am, standing with others, to join training again. He is one of the former militants of Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) recruited as a home guard by the state government.

"It is, indeed, a second training for us. There is not much difference in the schedule but unlike the training I had in Bhutan 23 years back, we are yet to be provided with arms training this time. Also, the earlier training was quite tough," says Mihir, known as Milton Burma when he was the self-styled second-in-command of the militant outfit.

KLO was formed by Rajbanshi youths to achieve a separate Kamtapur state. They were trained by Ulfa and NDFB militants at camps in Bhutan. Mihir was in the first batch in 1996 and since then, a group was trained every year.

It disintegrated on 2003, when the Royal Bhutan Army launched Operation Flushout. Most top leaders of KLO, except Jeevan Singh, the self-styled chief, were arrested and handed over to Bengal police.

Among those arrested were Mihir and many others. They were in jail for some years and later released on bail. Most have now been acquitted while some still have cases pending.

After Mamata Banerjee became chief minister, they had sought jobs.

In July this year, 45 such former militants were handed letters appointment them as home guards. "Our training will continue for 42 days. The training we had earlier was much longer and went on for months."

In Bhutan, they would attend physical training in the morning, followed by a two-hour break when they had to clean the camp or help in making food. In the afternoon, they were provided with arms training while in the evening, they would have some cultural programmes.

"Here, we have to do physical exercise and parade in the morning and afternoon and attend classes to learnt different laws. In the evening, we are taken to the Alipurduar police station to know how it functions," said another former militant.

"Earlier, we were in a delusion and went to the camp and joined the outfit. This time however, the training matters a lot as this job can help us in running our families and lead a decent life. That is why everybody is putting his best effort and sincerely attending the training," Himadri Das, one of the trainees, said.