SUMMARY
In its struggle for what ATTF (All Tripura Tiger Force) perceives to be the tribals’ rights in Tripura the group has made use not only of attacks on the police and army forces of the Indian government and the Tripura state but also used one-sided violence against civilians.
ATTF primarily targets three types of groups of civilians; (1) Bengali-speakers and people of non-tribal ethnic origin, (2) ex-ATTF members that have left the organization, and (3) supporters and activists of political parties that are not supportive of Tripura tribal rights. In regard to the third group, it is important to note that ATTF itself deems who is and who is not supportive of these rights.
The explanation for these deliberate attacks on civilians might be found within the charter of ATTF, which clearly spells out that in the interest of the tribals “all strength will be utilized for armed struggle without any compromise”. The charter also reads that the militants will fight without compromise for tribal culture and against any influence of “distorted cultures”. The strategy of attacking Bengali-speakers and non-tribals also makes sense when seen in relation to the ATTF goal of expelling Bengali immigrants from Tripura, so as to rid the state of the ‘occupation’ and ‘colonization’ of external non-tribal elements. The interwoven nature of ATTF's interests with those of political parties can also probably explain some of the violence against political activists of different affiliations. These killings should be seen as being related to ATTF's struggle to support political parties that are sympathetic to its cause.
The violence committed by ATTF has been concentrated within the boundaries of the state of Tripura, and the militants commonly shoot their victims to death, either in attacks on villages or in attacks that focus on a specific individual that they wish to wipe out. Individual civilians are also sometimes abducted, and then murdered.
ATTF first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1993, when the one-sided violence resulted in at least 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached sometime between April and July of that year when attacks by ATTF killed 25 supporters of the Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti party (TUJS).
