Du Jan. 9, Reuter: Tribal rebels blew up a power station in their latest guerrilla offensive in southern Bangladesh, local officials said today.
They said the 50,000 residents of Dighinala, 16 km (10 miles) from the Indian border, would be without electricity for months because of the attack yesterday by Shanti Bahini (peace force) rebels in their campaign for self-rule.
The power station blast coincided with an agreement yesterday in Dhaka between India and Bangladesh on ending the two separatist guerilla wars along their border.
Indian External Affairs Minister Narain Datt Tiwari said at the end of his three-day visit to Bangladesh that the two countries would refuse help to guerrillas.
On the Bangladesh side the Shanti Bahini are fighting to rule the 14,200 sq. km (5,500 sq. miles) of the Chittagong Hill tracts.
On the other side of the border, the tribal Tripura National Volunteers (TNV) guerrillas are fighting for autonomy in India’s Tripura state.
As part of the deal, Dhaka has agreed to take back 24,000 Bangladeshi tribesmen who fled to India’s Tripura state to escape the separatist campaign.
More than 1,000 civilians and 200 soldiers have died since the Shanti Bahini took up arms in 1975.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 16, 1987
