GUWAHATI, SEPT 26: The renowned Manas National Park, an important bio-diversity hot-spot of Southeast Asia, is back in the news for the wrong reasons. After a gap of five fairly peaceful years, militants have once again infested the national park, putting the plant and animal wealth of the park in a grave danger.Militants fleeing from camps in southern Bhutan following a military build-up in the Himalayan kingdom have taken shelter inside Manas, compelling security-forces to carry out a series of combing operations within the precincts.Over the past couple of weeks, the 500-sq km national park - also part of Project Tiger and a UNESCO world heritage site - has witnessed a series of fierce encounters between militant groups and security forces, in which at least one forest guard camp was reduced to ashes.Meanwhile, authorities have ordered forest guards to temporarily pull out of the park so that the militants do not get an opportunity to steal their arms and ammunition. The militants, belonging to both the ULFA as well as the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) have also been using Manas as a corridor to slip in and out of Bhutan, taking advantage of the fact that the forests in the park extend across the border into Bhutan.According to park director S B Singh, the Dighari forest guard camp was burnt to ashes when security forces exchanged fire with the rebels last week. Another camp at Bhuyanpara was also partially damaged during another such clash.On the other hand, CRPF inspector-general for Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya P N Ramakrishnan said here earlier this week that his men had already flushed out about 200 militants from inside the park over the past few days.Security forces have been taking clues from villagers living on the fringes of the Park and who constitute the unique Manas Bandhu (friends of Manas) groups, to locate and track down militants sneaking in and out of Bhutan, official sources here said.Incidentally, Manas National Park has borne the brunt of militancy, with Bodo rebels virtually holding sway over it for two years in 1993-95, when militancy was at its peak in the state. The rebels had even ``captured'' the main tourist bungalow inside the park, converting it into their headquarters until the Army was called in to flush them out in 1995.Manas then underwent a massive face-lift, and even recorded an increase in tiger, rhino and buffallo population. However, a number of rhinos were robbed of their horns, which were then smuggled out to West Asia via Nepal.Meanwhile, with the militants being flushed out, the park authorities have launched a vigorous campaign to rejuvenate the Manas Bandhu groups - 27 in all - to create awareness among the common people to protect Manas, park director Singh said.
