From Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi: Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma on Monday said that law and order situation in Meghalaya remains stable barring some pockets of disturbances along the porous international border but wanted more manpower and sophisticated weapons like the US/NATO soldiers are using to wipe out the last remnants of terrorism in the hill state.
Addressing the Conference of Chief Ministers on internal security here, Dr Sangma said that the overall law and order situation in the state has remained stable although certain parts have been affected by militancy.
Stating that whenever, the state Government takes action against the militants they melt into the vast and porous Indo-Bangladesh order, he urged the Centre to take up the matter with the Bangladesh Government.
Dr Sangma also pointed out that the militants are far better equipped with sophisticated weapons than the state police force. He wanted specialized weapons like high calibre automatic assault rifles which are being used by United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other conflict zones. He also urged for enhancing the strength of the state police with sanction of two additional IR Battalions.
Agreeing with the Chief Minister the Union Minister for Home P Chidamabaram said that an overview would lead to the conclusion that violence had declined in 2011. Be it the North Eastern States, Jammu & Kashmir or Naxal -affected states, there was indeed a dramatic decline in the number of violent incidents and the number of casualties, he said.
“However, I must caution you that behind these figures lies a more worrying narrative – which is the spread and the reach of some adversaries, and their success in augmenting their weaponry and their military capabilities,” Chidamabram said. The militants do not recognize any state boundary and it is primarily the state which should tackle them with all the help from the centre, he said.
Dr Sangma said that the State Police have not only succeeded in crushing the HNLC, which was the other major militant outfit that had caused tremendous depredation in the State, but it has also ensured that the outfit does not raise its head again. But in case of the most dreaded ANVC a breakaway faction has now emerged and the State Government has invited them to join the dialogue process, he said.
Lamenting the very low police/ population ratio and difficult terrain Dr Sangma said that the State Government has already taken a policy decision to increase the number of police stations, and also to upgrade all existing outposts into police stations. He also said the State Government is in favour of separating the crime investigation and law and order branches of police, however for the present the inadequate strength of cops prevented such police reform measures.
Chidambaram too agreed on this point when he said that the population-police ratio is hopelessly low with a 100 civil police to one lakh population. But he also came down heavily on those states which have not modernized their police forces and could not utilise the funds sanctioned by the Centre.
Speaking on the other problem- infiltration, the Chief Minister said that the he State Government has decided to set up an Anti-Infiltration Directorate, which will work as a second line of defence to effectively check the problem of cross border infiltration.
Special joint teams constituted for detecting infiltrators at the District-level have become functional, he said.
Meghalaya faces serious problems on account of influx of foreign nationals not only from across the border but also through secondary migration from the neighbouring states, Dr Sangma said.
Anytime the state police takes action the militants escape into their camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, he said adding “It has been our bad experience that the militants cross over to the other side of the border and even smuggle weapons and explosives from across the international border with relative ease.”
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in his inaugural speech was however more candid when he said, “The situation in some of our Northeastern states has remained complex.”
“There was some improvement in terms of incidents of violence, but there is no question that much remains to be done to restore calm and eliminate extortion, kidnapping and other crimes by militants or extremist groups on the pretext of ethnic identity,” he said.
“Pilferage of development funds by militant groups is hurting our efforts to improve the lives of the people of the region,” Dr Singh said.
More proactive state police forces reducing reliance on central armed police forces would be a useful step forward, he said.