After ‘KLO’ threat call,CM’s security stepped up

Just hours before the meeting was to begin,a local journalist from Coochbehar received the call around 9.30 am from Bangladesh. Soon after the call was received,the security arrangement for the chief minister’s meeting in northern West Bengal was stepped up.

The security agency informed Bhattacharjee about the threat call and requested him to avoid the meeting. “The chief minister refused to cancel his election schedule and said that he would participate in the meeting at Tufangunge,” said Arvind Kumar Maliwal,Director Securities.

Bhattacharjee told Maliwal that in the past too he had received such threat calls and there was no question of stepping back. “If required I will again come to Coochbehar to deliver my speech,” said Bhattacharjee.

“We have stepped up the security for the chief minister and have made adequate arrangements for his meetings during his visit to north Bengal,” he said.

Asked whether the source of the call has been identified,Maliwal said: “The police will certainly probe the matter to find the source. We will try to maintain a safe distance between the crowd and the chief minister.”

In the meanwhile,the local administration held a high-level meeting and decided a massive combing operation in north Bengal to hunt down the KLO militants.

Security has been stepped up at several highways and major intersections in the area. Locals were asked to alert the police if they saw any suspicious person in the district. Hotel and guesthouse owners were asked to maintain detailed report of their guest with photo identity cards.

The KLO is an insurgent outfit and has been active in Coochbehar since its inception in December 1995 by the Koch-Rajbongsi tribes,who strived to carve out a separate Kamatapur state.

Koch- Rajbongsis live in four districts of lower Assam — Kokrajhar,Bongaigaon,Dhubri and Goalpara— West Garo Hills of Meghalaya and in the six districts of north Bengal. The proposed state of Kamatapur comprises six districts of north Bengal—South Dinajpur,North Dinajpur,Coochbehar,Jalpaiguri,Malda and Darjeeling and four districts of lower Assam.