The Central government, in collaboration with the Tripura state government, has signed a significant peace agreement with the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF).
- The Memorandum of Settlement was formalized on 4th September in New Delhi. The peace agreement marked the end of a 35-year-long conflict, as the armed groups have now pledged to renounce violence and contribute to Tripura’s development.
- This agreement is the 12th peace pact in the Northeast and the third related to Tripura, with over 10,000 insurgents having surrendered and joined the mainstream under similar accords.
- Although armed struggle in Tripura dates back to 1967, when a small outfit called Sengkrak took up arms, the thick of insurgency came in the late ’80s, when a series of insurgent groups including the NLFT and the ATTF rose.
- While most of these have largely been defunct, a small faction of the NLFT is said to be active in Bangladesh.
- The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was removed from Tripura in 2015 itself and it has also been withdrawn from many parts of the Northeast.
