A team of Indian army personnel arrived in Kathmandu Tuesday looking for a leader of an armed rebel group active in north-eastern Assam and Nagaland state of India, reports Kantipur Daily. The rebel leader is believed to be in a hideout in Kathmandu from the past some time.

Indian army personnel from Assam-based Gurkha Rifles have zeroed in their search for Jwel Garlosa, ‘commander-in-chief’ of an underground ethnic outfit named Dima Halim Dogaha (DHD), in the tourist areas of Kathmandu, the report said. The group is also known as the ‘Black Widows’ and is chiefly involved in carrying out attacks against Indian security personnel including blowing up vital infrastructures like roads and railways in conflict-hit Assam and Nagaland state.

DHD is charged of killing more than 100 security personnel and innocent people in Assam where the group is waging an armed rebellion to carve out a separate state for Dimasa ethnic community in areas of Assam and Nagaland state where they comprise the majority.

It must be noted that undergrounds groups like the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and other rebel groups have been waging a separatist movement in Assam, Nagaland and other north-eastern states of India since decades. Thousands of people have died in their struggle to gain independence from the Indian union.

The Indian army team believes that Garlosa has been running his group from Nepal for the past some time.

“We have reliable information that he (Garlosa) has married a Nepalese girl and has been running a hotel in Thamel or some other parts of Kathmandu,” a member of the Indian army team told Kantipur.

He said they are looking out for Garlosa ‘informally’ as per the information they have received.

“If he is traced we will notify our embassy here and arrest him with the help of Nepal’s security agencies,” he said. “We will then take him with us after fulfilling the necessary legal requirements.”

The government of Nepal has not been formally notified about the arrival of Indian army team.

A senior home ministry official told the daily that he has no information about the arrival of Indian security personnel in Kathmandu, but said that if they seek help then “it will be provided looking at the situation”. nepalnews.com Dec 17 08