Threat of 72-hr Garo Hills bandh if issue not discussed in upcoming session
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Taking strong cognizance of the issue of alleged secret killings by the Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), the proscribed Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) has demanded that the upcoming monsoon session of the State Legislative Assembly must raise the issue, failing which the outfit has threatened to call a 72-hour all Garo Hills bandh in the second week of next month.
Outlining the outfit’s agenda, Kakam D Shira, ‘secretary’ to GNLA ‘army chief’ Sohan D Shira, said unless the elected members from both the ruling and the opposition parties raise the matter of ‘mass graves’ and seize all concealed weapons of the ceasefire group his organisation would be compelled to go for a total closure of Garo Hills.
Shira said, “The members in the House must discuss and call for an investigation into the disappearance of dozens of innocent Garo boys and men at the hands of ANVC after the ceasefire was signed. The mass graves behind the ANVC liaison office in Tura youth hostel and the Samanda camp must be investigated.”
He said that the State Government has to take steps to seize all hidden weapons of the ANVC which are being used to perpetrate terror on the innocent civilians.
The outfit has informed that the 72-hour bandh could take place between the 10th and 15th of September if its demands are not met by the elected members of the House.
“There is every possibility that the government will not adhere to our demand and we would like to appeal to our Garo people to stock up on essential commodities before the bandh. This time violators of the bandh call will be dealt with more severely,” Shira warned.
In a twist to the ongoing struggle for supremacy between the two rival groups, the GNLA has asked the security forces to halt operations against it and to instead train their guns on the ANVC.
“Even before we came on the scene the ANVC was committing atrocities on our people. The killing of an innocent boy by ANVC secret killers who attacked our leader Sohan D Shira’s house in 2007 because he had allied with late Peter Marak of LAEF is evident of the ANVC’s possession of illegal weapons,” said Shira.
In another statement by GNLA ‘political secretary’ Bikdot Nikjang Marak, the outfit has threatened to impose 50 per cent tax on ANVC leaders for allegedly collecting illegal tax on all food and other commodities in all the markets of Garo Hills including Tura.
“Tura market as well as other village weekly markets have been taken over by ANVC leaders who are collecting tax for every item brought in like eggs, fish, meat, milk, fruits, rice and sugar etc. Because they are taxing the poor people we will impose 50 per cent tax on them instead,” said the GNLA ‘political secretary’.