DGP Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta said a total of 644 armed rebel leaders and cadres would lay down their arms before Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Guwahati on Thursday

The official surrender event would be held in the presence of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital Auditorium.

Director General of Police Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta told News18, “A total of 644 rebel leaders and cadres would lay down their arms before the chief minister in Guwahati on Thursday. All of them have returned from various places along with a huge amount of arms and ammunition and they will officially surrender the same on Thursday.”

“It was a comprehensive effort of the Special Branch of Assam Police, led by Inspector General Hiren Chandra Nath, to bring them back to the mainstream. The cadres have with them over 170 sophisticated arms, including AK-47, AK-56 and AK-57 rifles, Heckler & Koch series rifles and Beretta series pistols, bombs, a huge number of grenades,” Mahanta said.

A number of cadres from the United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent (ULFA-I), National Democratic Front of Bodoland-Saoraigwra (NDFB-S) and Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) members will surrender on Thursday.

Few members of the Rabha National Liberation Army (RNLA), National Liberation Front of Bengali (NLFB) and Adivasi Liberation Force (ALF) will also lay down their arms.

Earlier this month, a number of NDFB-S cadres, led by B Saoraigwra, reached the country and signed a tripartite ceasefire agreement with the Centre and state government on January 16.

This comes after the Tatmadaw (Myanmar army) undertook a major counter-insurgency operation last year against the rebel groups on its soil. The main camp of of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) at Ta Ga village in the Sagaing region of Myanmar has also been captured.

The operation is still underway and camps of the NSCN (K), ULFA-I, NDFB-S, KLO, People's Democratic Council of Karbi-Longri (PDCK), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), People's Liberation Army (PLA) and United National Liberation Front (UNLF) in the area have been destroyed over the last few months.

The insurgents had fled from the Ta Ga area to different locations. However, dozens of NSCN (K)’s cadres, including five senior functionaries, were arrested by the Tatmadaw. Soon after, a court in the Sagaing region sentenced 24 rebels from Assam and Manipur to two years in prison.

The Tatmadaw has filed a complaint against the rebels under Article 17(1) of the Unlawful Association Act of Myanmar. It has accused the NSCN-K of violating the bilateral ceasefire agreement it had signed on April 9, 2012, with the Sagaing regional government.