From Our Correspondent
TURA: The Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) has accused the ANVC of directing its cadres to target villagers of West Khasi Hills and claimed that on November 29 the ceasefire group had kidnapped an elder whose whereabouts remain unknown.
“ANVC militants under the command of its Khasi Hills commander Mokesh Marak raided Rongtok village in West Khasi Hills and after assaulting the villagers took away one Chonteng Sangma a father of three children for execution. His only crime was that I had recently asked him to provide us with a meal,” claimed GNLA ‘area commander’ Savio Marak while issuing a statement to the media in Tura.
He claimed that Meghalaya police has been denying the existence of a private army of the ANVC that has all along been based in West Khasi Hills and beyond the jurisdiction of the ceasefire zone.
“This group numbering between 15 and 25 ANVC militants has been kept with full authority of ANVC leaders in case the ceasefire breaks and they have to return to the jungle,” claimed the GNLA.
The militant outfit which has suffered a major reversal with the reported arrest of its chairman and former DSP Champion Sangma inside Bangladesh, last month, has also accused Meghalaya police of ‘systematic’ operations.
“While we are hounded by the security forces others like the ANVC which is committing atrocities on innocent civilians in West Khasi Hills are allowed to go free. The government is dealing in double standards,” accused the GNLA while threatening to target their rivals’ support base in retaliation for the ongoing war of supremacy in remote West Khasi Hills district.