New Delhi: Former Mizoram Governor Swaraj Kaushal on Thursday welcomed surrender of 644 militant leaders and cadres of eight outfits, including ULFA, CPI (Maoist) and NDFB and extended his good wishes to the state Chief Minister Sarbananda Sononwal.
“There is good news coming from Guwahati. Some 644 ultras from eight insurgent outfits have given up their weapons. They have laid down 177 weapons. I see some Kalashnikov rifles also. All the best Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in your mission,” Kaushal wrote in a series of tweets.
He also wrote: “The media describes them as ‘terrorists’. They are not ‘terrorists’. There is a difference between terrorism and insurgency. Terrorism is the indiscriminate use of violence. Insurgency is the selective use of violence against people or the Government opposed to the rebels”.
In the same series of missives, Kaushal, husband of late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and the man who had played a key role in bringing rebel Mizo leader Laldenga to the negotiating table, also suggested that a huge number of Kalashnikov rifles are used in rebellion causes around the world.
“It is more than 20 per cent of the global stock of firearms. In my view, this is the most misused patent in the world. I doubt if the royalty for all the manufactured stock was paid to the Kalashnikov family”, he wrote. (UNI)
