People who handed over their weapons to the Tripura government up to 28 years ago announced an indefinite highway blockade this week, because the rehabilitation package promised in exchange for their surrender still has not materialised.
The Tripura Guerrilla Returnees' Demand Committee — representing former militants who gave up armed struggle in the 1990s in exchange for government promises of rehabilitation and withdrawal of criminal cases — scheduled an indefinite road and rail blockade starting June 5, timed strategically to coincide with Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to the state. The government responded with the institutional memory of an organisation that has done this before: it called a meeting, issued fresh assurances about the rehabilitation package, and the blockade was called off. A follow-up meeting has been scheduled for June 9 to discuss the same demands, which is when the next set of assurances is expected. Some criminal cases, which were to be dropped in exchange for surrendering arms, remain pending because the paperwork has been 'complex' for approximately three decades.