Monalisa and Maradona Russell in Dibrugarh on Thursday. A Telegraph picture

Dibrugarh, Oct. 16: An Ulfa peacenik’s wife, held captive in Myanmar by the outfit, bluffed the camp’s sentry and trekked for three nights to reach her husband in Arunachal Pradesh, where army officers high-fived their meticulous planning that engineered her escape.

Monalisa — a Pamei Naga of Myanmarese origin — married Maradona Russell around seven years ago when he, too, was in the Myanmar camp. Maradona, alias Naren Rai, was a sergeant major in Ulfa.

After a desperate Maradona, who is from Bongaigaon, failed to get Monalisa out of the camp, he, along with two other senior leaders of the pro-peace group, approached the army for help to plan her escape.

The army, after much thought, handed over the task to the Military Intelligence Unit (MIU) based in Dinjan near Tinsukia, which immediately swung into action and mobilised all its trans-border resources to bring Monalisa into Indian territory.

In fact, the MIU played the role of facilitator during the entire operation, which took around a month’s time. Dinjan is also the divisional headquarters of the army’s 2 Mountain Division.

“Around 20 days ago I had a communication with her during which she was given the entire briefing as to how she could escape from the camp and how can she meet us,” Maradona said.

Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph in a safe house in Dibrugarh this afternoon, Monalisa narrated the tale of “her great escape from the jaws of death”. Her only regret is that she had to leave her five-year-old daughter behind with a relative as she was too young for an arduous trek.

I came to know about the news of the unilateral ceasefire by the Alpha and Charlie companies of Ulfa’s 28 battalion from some of the NSCN (K) cadres with whom we shared the camps. However, when I wanted to come to Assam, I was initially denied permission by Ulfa camp commander Bhaskar Hazarika. He said ‘the time is not right to leave the camp’. Later I came to know that they actually held us captive in the camps as we were not allowed to venture out.”

It took Monalisa three days to trek through the dense jungles of Myanmar from Myanmar’s Sagaing division where the militant camps are located before reaching Pangsu Pass in Arunachal Pradesh where she met her husband who was accompanied by a few men from the MIU.

I escaped from the camp on October 12 by daylight, telling the sentry that I wanted to go out for some medical reasons. I knew that trying to escape at night would be more risky as security is tighter and anyone trying to escape is shot down. First, I went to the adjacent basti (settlement) and then fled from there. I trekked throughout the night and during the day I hid. On October 14, I reached Pangsu Pass. It was a tiresome, laborious, frightening trek, but being a local helped me a lot as I knew the routes which the militants use. My fatigue and trauma disappeared when I saw my husband whom I had last seen 18 months ago.”

Monalisa was taken to Dinjan on Wednesday where she also had an interaction with the GOC of 2 Mountain Division, Maj. Gen. Jatinder Singh, and other senior army officers.

The only thought that brings a lump to her throat is the memory of her little dau-ghter left behind in Myanmar.

Please do not ask anything about her, even her name. I am concerned about her security, I could not bring her because I know she was too young to undertake the dangerous trek.

(Monalisa does not speak Assamese but understands the language. She narrated her story in Pamei dialect with the help of her husband).