Kamtapur Liberation Organisation
The Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) is a militant organisation based in Northeast India whose objective is to carve out a separate Kamtapur State. The proposed state is to comprise six districts in West Bengal and four contiguous districts of Assam which are Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North and South Dinajpur and Malda, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara, [Kishanganj] distt in Bihar and Jhapa Disstt. in Nepal. The KLO was formed to address problems of the Koch Rajbongshi people such as large-scale unemployment, land alienation, perceived neglect of Kamtapuri language, identity, and grievances of economic deprivation . [1]
History
The beginning of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) can be traced to the attempts of certain members of the Koch Rajbongshi people belonging to the All Kamtapur Students Union (AKSU) to organise an armed struggle for a separate Kamtapur State. For this purpose, they approached the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). The KLO came into existence on December 28, 1995.
Leadership and organisation
Tamir Das alias Jibon Singha is the chairman of the KLO. He was arrested in October 1999 but regained control over the outfit after he was released by the Assam Police in a bid to make the other KLO cadres surrender. Milton Burman alias Mihir Das is the second in command of the outfit.
See Also
- Insurgency in Northeast India
- Koch Rajbongshi people
- Koch dynasty
- Kamata Kingdom
- Koch Bihar
- Koch Hajo
