New Delhi: Over 20 new camps of anti-India insurgents have come up recently in Bangladesh, especially in the Chittagong district, even as Bhutan Army operations continued against the ultras for the 12th day today (Dec 26, 2003).

The issue of Bangladesh's support for these insurgents is likely to come up when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee meets his Bangladesh counterpart Begum Khaleda Zia during his visit to Islamabad for the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit early next year, informed sources said.

Over 20 new camps of United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) have come up in the recent past near the international border in Bangladesh's Sylhet, Habibganj and Sherpur areas. In Chittagong hill-tracts, the camps have emerged in Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachar areas, the sources quoted intelligence reports as saying.

While Bangladesh Foreign Minister Morshed Khan has denied the existence of these camps, the Indian agencies have irrefutable evidence in this regard, the sources said.

The reports also spoke of a "deep nexus" between top officials of Bangladesh's field intelligence unit and Northeastern insurgent outfits.

Quoting interrogation transcripts of surrendered ULFA insurgents, they said ULFA chief, Paresh Baruah, and another top leader Raju Baruah, who are still in that country, were contacted by the second-rung leaders in the Bhutan camps as early as on the second day of the Army raids.

The second-rung leaders, who surrendered, told the ULFA top brass that most of the cadres wanted to surrender, as there was a lot of pressure mounted by the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) offensive. But Paresh Baruah asked them to fight it out.

On the other hand, Myanmar has already assured India that it would not allow its soil to be used for anti-India subversive activities. In the past couple of months, the Myanmarese Army has over-run the camps of Northeastern insurgents, including those from Nagaland and Manipur.

The destruction of ULFA's general headquarters and command headquarters in Bhutan is considered to have given a very major blow to the outfit, apart from that caused by the death and surrender of its senior leaders.

Similar was the impact of the death of number two in the NDFB hierarchy, B Erakadao, in the Army operations and surrender of its senior leaders like vice chairman Dhiren Boro and general secretary Gobinda Basumatari. Besides this, NDFB's command headquarters and battalion headquarters have been smashed.

The arrest of Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) vice president Harsh Vardhan has crippled the North Bengal outfit, with most of its cadres preferring to surrender or flee rather than taking on the Royal Bhutan Army.

The sources said the impact of the Army operations has not only led to smashing of the infrastructure of these outfits, but also has lowered the morale of the cadres of these groups all over.

Assam Government has, in the meanwhile, also announced publicly its readiness for initiating dialogue with the outfits and expects that these operations would force them to come to terms, the sources said.