India and Tribal Guerrillas Agree to Halt 8-Year Fight
Leaders of a tribal insurgency in northeast India signed a peace accord with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's Government today. The agreement came after eight years of guerrilla warfare in Tripura state that killed more than 2,000 people.
''We have decided to abjure violence, come overground, participate in development of Tripura and join the national mainstream,'' said Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl, the chief of the Tripura Volunteer Force, which had once sought independence from India.
The accord today follows three months of secret talks involving Mr. Hrangkhawl, the Indian Government and the Tripura state administration. The talks began after Mr. Gandhi's party won a bitterly contested state election last February, ousting a Marxist Government in power for 10 years.
An announcement about the negotiations was made to Parliament by Home Affairs Minister Buta Singh, who said he now hoped for ''an end to the chapter of extremist violence.'' Latest of Six Accords
The agreement is the latest among six accords that Mr. Gandhi's Government has signed with different ethnic groups, seeking to ease tension and confrontation, since it took office in 1984. One of the accords involves the use of Indian troops against Tamil militants in Sri Lanka.
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