SHILLONG: The whereabouts of two Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) engineers kidnapped by Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) rebels remain unknown, 10 days after the abduction.
On January 24, armed GNLA rebels abducted three MeECL engineers – Apus Pothmi, Bonnieface Majaw and Marshal R. Swer – at gunpoint from their quarters in Rongkhon area. Swer was later released unharmed.
The GNLA, which was declared a terrorist organisation, had claimed the two engineers were abducted due to the failure of the government to provide power connectivity in the three insurgency-affected districts of Garo Hills in the western part of the state.
However, the government claimed that it has launched various schemes for improving power supplies, including implementing the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Programme in Garo Hills.
“We (security forces) have not been able to trace the abducted engineers but they are still in Garo Hills,” Ricky Dkhar, the district police chief of West Garo Hills, told IANS.
Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and Meghalaya’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandos have been pressed into service to trace the hostages.
Home Minister HDR. Lyngdoh said the operation to rescue the engineers will continue and the security forces is putting all efforts to trace and rescue the officials safely.
“The safety of the officer is of paramount importance and we are taking all steps to see that they return unharmed,” Lyngdoh said.
The family members of the abducted official, who have been praying for their safe return, also said they have no information about the engineers.
Several organisations, including the MeECL employees, separately appealed to the GNLA for the immediate unconditional release of the engineers on humanitarian grounds.
Meanwhile, the Meghalaya Peoples Human Rights Council (MPHRC) on Friday appealed to the GNLA to immediately release the two abducted engineers.
The Council said the abducted engineers became the scapegoats for the overall failure of the government in carrying out its primary duties and responsibility.
Appealing the GNLA to release the two engineers immediately and ensure their safety, the MPHRC called upon the GNLA to commit itself for creating a climate favourable to the resumption of peaceful negotiations.
Meanwhile, the MPHRC also urged the government to take all the necessary measures to ensure that abductions is established as an offence in its domestic law.
‘The government must ensure that the cases of abductions are thoroughly and effectively investigated, that suspects are prosecuted and those found guilty punished with sanctions proportionate to the gravity of their crimes,’ the Council said.
Moreover, the MPHRC said the government must also ensure that any individual who has suffered harm as the direct result of abductions has access to information about the fate of the disappeared person, as well as to fair and adequate compensation. (With inputs from IANS and Our reporter)