Skeletons tumble out of surrender tamashas; Not all surrenderees were UGs
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, May 04 2012: UG cadres who surrendered to Army or Assam Rifles along with weapons are not housed in the Surrenderers' Rehabilitation Centre set up by the State Government under the Union Home Ministry while many of the surrenderees have turned out that they were never enrolled as cadres of any UG outfit.

Notably, around 300 cadres of different UG outfits have surrendered to Army and Assam Rifles between September last year and April this year.

The Chief Minister and top police officers of the State were present at many of these surrender functions which have been christened as 'Home-Coming Ceremony' .

However an independent investigation conducted by The Sangai Express revealed that the former UG cadres are housed in Army/AR units to which they surrendered rather than housing them in rehabilitation camps or enabling them to earn their own livelihood.

Masked UGS at the latest surrender ceremony on Apr 30

So far, the surrendered UG cadres have not been given the necessary guidance as expected under the Revised Scheme for Surrender cum Rehabilitation of Militants in the North East.

Instead, it appears that the former rebels are being used by their host AR/Army units for reasons which have not been spelt out.

Grand surrender functions were held at 57 Mountain Division headquarters on September 7 and October 27 last year when 29 UG cadres and 43 UG cadres surrendered on the respective dates.

Similar spectacular surrender functions were also held Hqs IG AR (S) on December 16 when 57 UG cadres surrendered to the State.

This year, six UG cadres surrendered to BSF in February, 52 cadres surrendered to the State at 57 Mountain Division on March 27 followed by 103 cadres at Hqs IG AR (S) on April 30 .

The Chief Minister and the DGP were present at these surrender functions.

Though the Government promised to deposit Rs 1.5 lakh in the bank in the name of each surrendered cadre, besides ensuring incentives in accordance to the weapons they brought along and accommodation of in rehabilitation camps for 36 months during which they should be given vocational training, the rehabilitation programme, however, remains not a very fruitful one.

UG cadres who have surrendered to Army or AR or other central paramilitary forces are not being accommodated in the rehabilitation centre opened at Imphal West District Police Reserved Line for lack of space, said a police officer.

The capacity of the rehabilitation centre as of now is 30 people but there are less than 20 surrendered UG cadres in the centre.

Majority of the surrendered cadres are now housed in the security force units to which they surrendered and they are being given some amounts as stipend through the security units.

Under the revised surrender and rehabilitation scheme, each security units should have a nodal officer for coordinating surrender and rehabilitation of surrendered UG cadres.

The surrenderees should be housed in rehabilitation camps under a formal agreement between the nodal officers and the IGP (Intelligence) who is also in-charge of the rehabilitation officer.

Some UG cadres who surrendered in December last year were again produced before the screening committee in April this year.

Moreover, some of the surrendered UG cadres turned out that they were never listed in any UG outfit.

This was unmasked when police investigated into the antecedents of the 'surrendered cadres'.

As such, there were cases when police handed over the 'surrendered cadres' to their own families.

The monthly stipend of Rs 2000 which is sometimes increased to Rs 3500 when certain packages are available is also not given regularly.

It is reported that the number of UG cadres declared on the day of surrender ceremony is not accepted officially by the State police.

What is officially accepted is the number of UG cadres produced before the screening committee, added the source.