If reports are to be believed, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb conducted a ‘surgical strike’ to get back the 3 people who were taken hostage by National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) rebels.
It was on December 13 that Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb had warned the NLFT rebels by saying that his government will carry out a ‘surgical strike’ on terrorists if they do not release the civilians they have kidnapped from different parts of the state.
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“Our government knows how to carry out surgical strikes, similar to those conducted by the Modi Government inside Pakistan. We will carry out surgical strikes on the terrorists if they do not release the civilians in their captive soon,” Biplab Deb had said.
Little did anyone know that the Tripura Chief Minister was not merely making a threat, rather he was serious about his words.
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According to an India Today report, by the time Biplab Deb made this statement, “he had already launched an operation to get the three hostages back from the clutches of NLFT”.
Biplab Deb made a direct call to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, seeking co-operation from her Government to secure the release of the 3 hostages.
“Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina promised an army operation to rescue the hostages,” claimed India Today quoting a highly placed source.
Soon the Bangladesh Army reportedly launched an operation to rescue the three hostages.
The Bangladesh Special Forces pushed the NLFT rebels deep into the forest, making an approach from the Indian side easier.
“Faced by the Bangladesh Army operation on one side and BSF on standby on the other side, NLFT members could get nervous and edgy, and could have shot the captives and fled,” the source informed.
On being cornered and realising that escaping unhurt becoming a distant dream, the NLFT cadres last week indicated about releasing the three captives. Some money was also paid to them to ensure that they don’t kill the captives, the source further said.
Meanwhile, after 16 days in captivity all the 3 persons have returned. The three persons were released by the NLFT on Wednesday evening by the NLFT.
The three released persons are now in a BSF camp and are in good condition.
Eyewitnesses claim that at around 6:10pm on Wednesday the three persons crossed over to the Indian side near pillar number 2273 of the Indo-Bangla Border.
After crossing over to the Indian side, locals in the area informed the BSF immediately.
Personnel of the BSF rushed to the site and took them to a camp for debriefing.
The three kidnapped persons: Subash Bhowmik, Suban Debnath and Gana Mohan Tripura – all construction workers engaged in border fencing works along the India-Bangladesh border in Tripura were abducted by cadres of the banned NLFT on December 7.
The NLFT extremists kidnapped supervisor Subhash Bhowmik, excavator driver Subal Debnath and worker Ganapati Tripura at gunpoint while they were at work.