Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Friday praised Bangladesh for its active role against militants in the state using its territory, saying that India's neighbour has played a vital role in returning peace.
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Sarkar said this after announcing the repeal of the controversial Armed Force Special Power Act from the state.
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"AFSPA was introduced in the state on February 16, 1997 to curb militancy. It was there for 18 long years and every six month it used to be reviewed. Now on the eve of the expiry of six month's tenure, the top officials have come to the conclusion that there is no need of the further continuation of the disturbed area under AFSPA. Accordingly we discussed in our Cabinet and come to unanimous conclusion not to further extend it since here has been qualitative development on the aspect of law and order situation particularly related to extremist activities," said Sarkar.
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"The present Bangladesh government played a vital role in combating the Tripura militants who had their camps in its territory and thus helping us. However, there are still some NLFT camps across the border. Moreover, a strip of the Tripura-Bangladesh border is still to be fenced with barbed wire. That is the area being used by the extremists who have camps in Bangladesh to get in and out," he added.
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On Thursday, the Government of Tripura decided to withdraw AFSPA from the state. The state will now move the Union Home Ministry for the formal withdrawal of AFSPA.
The Act was implemented in 40 police station areas of the state in February, 1997. With declining insurgency, the administration, in June 2013 had earlier withdrawn the Act from nine police stations.
This move comes after Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Wednesday.