The founding of the KLO and KPP
The Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) was founded on 28 December 1995 by members of the Koch Rajbongshi community, seeking a separate Kamtapur state comprising districts of West Bengal and Assam.[1]
The Kamtapur People's Party (KPP), founded in January 1996 by Atul Roy, has pursued the same demand through electoral politics.[2]
· Other
Founding of the KLO, 1995
The KLO was founded to campaign for a separate Kamtapur state across parts of West Bengal and Assam.
Operation All Clear
The KLO established training camps in Bhutan, reportedly in cooperation with other Assamese separatist groups. Bhutan's Royal Bhutan Army, supported by India, destroyed these camps in Operation All Clear from 15 December 2003 to 3 January 2004, reportedly resulting in around 160 militants killed and 490 captured.[3][4]
· Other
Operation All Clear, 2003-2004
Bhutan's military, with Indian support, destroyed KLO and allied groups' camps on its territory.
The 2023 ceasefire
In January 2023, former KLO chairman Jiban Singha Koch surrendered with nine armed associates upon entering India from Myanmar; peace talks with the Indian government reportedly reached an advanced stage the same month, with KLO cadres subsequently entering a formal ceasefire.[5]
· Agreement
KLO ceasefire and peace process, 2023
The KLO's leadership surrendered and entered peace talks with the Indian government.
Sources for this page
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
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1.
Claim: The Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) was founded on 28 December 1995 by members of the Koch Rajbongshi community, drawing on the All Kamtapur Students Union, with the objective of establishing a separate Kamtapur state comprising six districts of West Bengal (Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North and South Dinajpur, and Malda) and four contiguous districts of Assam (Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara), citing grievances including unemployment, land alienation, and neglect of Kamtapuri language and identity.
- Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (Wikipedia) link, Founding and objectives section. Source record
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2.
Claim: The Kamtapur People's Party (KPP) was founded in January 1996 by Atul Roy, pursuing the demand for a separate Kamtapur state and recognition of the Rajbanshi/Kamtapuri dialect as a distinct language through electoral politics; the KLO has been alleged, though not conclusively established, to function as the KPP's armed underground wing.
- Kamtapur Progressive Party (Wikipedia) link, Founding and KLO relationship sections. Source record
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3.
Claim: The KLO established training camps in Bhutan, including in the Samdrup Jongkhar, Gelephu and Sarpang areas, reportedly in cooperation with other Assamese separatist groups, from shortly after its founding in the mid-1990s.
- Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (Wikipedia) link, Bhutan camps section. Source record
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4.
Claim: From 15 December 2003 to 3 January 2004, Bhutan's Royal Bhutan Army, supported by India, conducted Operation All Clear against camps in Bhutan belonging to ULFA, the NDFB, the Bodo Liberation Tigers Force and the KLO; the operation destroyed all 30 targeted camps, and is reported to have resulted in around 160 militants killed and 490 captured, alongside around 16 Bhutanese soldiers killed. This bundle presents these figures as reported, not independently verified, and does not provide a detailed military account of the operation.
- Operation All Clear (Wikipedia) link, Operation details and casualty figures section. Source record
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5.
Claim: In January 2023, former KLO chairman Jiban Singha Koch surrendered with nine armed associates upon entering India from Myanmar; the same month, Singha announced that bilateral discussions between the Indian government and the KLO, mediated by the Assam chief minister, had reached an advanced stage, with KLO cadres subsequently housed in government-provided camps as part of a formal ceasefire and peace process.
- KLO chief Jibon Singha who is ready for peace talks, an arrest warrant still hanging at his house (India Today NE) link, Surrender and peace-talks sections. Source record
Printed from https://independenceatlas.com/movements/kamtapur/history · last substantive update 24 September 2026.