By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma has hinted that the GNLA has a nexus with some politicians and political parties.
“We cannot rule out the possibility of GNLA having a political nexus. But we cannot say that the outfit belongs to any particular party,” Dr Sangma said while speaking to reporters here on Wednesday.
While pointing out that there is usually no screening done when any person joins a political party, he said it is possible that some political personalities may be having links with the militants.
“I am aware of the fact there is a senior politician from Garo Hills who eulogized the activities of the GNLA during a recent public meeting. Praising the activities of a militant outfit is proof enough that the person and his party have close links with the outfit,” the Chief Minister said without revealing the name of the politician.
While maintaining that insurgency has not happened overnight, he said that this problem has emerged over the years and there are various factor that could be attributed to the genesis of this problem in the State.
“The Government is trying to solve the insurgency problem by going to its root cause. I hope in the near future we will be able to address the root cause and not just the symptoms,” the Chief Minister said.
When asked about the reported arrest of GNLA chairman Champion Sangma in Bangladesh, he said that it would not be appropriate to comment on this. “Unless we receive an official communiqué about his arrest it would be difficult for the Government to confirm or deny the arrest of the GNLA chairman,” he said.
While pointing out the improvement in the relationship between India and Bangladesh in recent times, the Chief Minister said that Bangladesh is no longer a ‘safe haven’ for the militants from the region.
“It is because of the healthy relations between the two countries that presently we are seeing many of the militant groups in the region being forced to leave Bangladesh,” Dr Sangma said.
Meanwhile, he said that the various state governments in the North East are also continuously pursuing with the Centre on the need to improve relations with Myanmar.
“We know that there many militant groups from the region which have shifted their base to Myanmar,” he said.
“We are hoping that relations with our neighbouring countries will improve in the coming years so that Myanmar would also take similar action against the North East militant groups as Bangladesh is doing,” Dr Sangma added.
The Chief Minister also stated that he was open to the All Party Committee (APC) proposal suggested by the UDP to discuss the law and order problem.