From CK Nayak
New Delhi: Shocking cases of children being used as soldiers and shield by the banned Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) in Meghalaya has come to the notice of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCP) which is taking up the matter at the highest level, its member Dr Yogesh Dube said.
The State administration has already admitted that the GNLA is engaged in recruiting youths from the region and indoctrinating them at their training camps. “Young teenagers of impressionable age are lured by money,” an official State report said.
While some children have been rescued, many are still in militant camps deep inside the jungles or working for the ultras over ground, the Commission said. The situation has become so serious that the police have urged the parents to ask their children to leave the camps to avoid casualties during counter-insurgency operations.
The outfit is also using school students as informers, couriers and for other jobs, the report received by the NCPCR said. Selected children are being provided with mobile phones, SIM cards and monetary allowances to act as informers, the report added.
The children provide information on movement of police and security forces, the report went on to add. In a recent case the State police intercepted three children while they were about to be sent to the outfit’s training camp by a hardcore GNLA militant, it said.
The militant was nabbed and a case has been filed against him in the court, the report said. The children, all belonging to Nikwatgre and Dakopgre villages of Tura have been handed over to their parents, it said. The Commission has taken suo moto cognizance of the matter and raised the same with both the State and the union Government.
The NCPCR member, who had earlier visited Meghalaya to study the issue of children being engaged as labourers in coal mines, will be reaching the State on January 7 on a four-day visit to take stock of this grave issue.
Besides meeting the Chief Secretary and other concerned officials, Dr Dube will also meet Governor RS Mooshahary and discuss this issue along with child labour and child rights issues. The Commission can also summon persons and receive evidence in this case.
Describing the matter of use of child soldiers as ‘serious’, the Commission said that the Government should take action at all levels to ensure that children are given their rights to life, education and health services.
“It has come to our notice that the GNLA has been recruiting children in its fold and more than a hundred of them are at its camps in the jungles in Garo Hills,” a communication from the Commission to the Meghalaya Government said.
The Commission has intimated the State Government that child soldiers being used by militant outfits in Meghalaya has come to its notice. It has asked the Government to give a detailed report on the issue and initiatives being taken to prohibit the misuse of children as soldiers.
About the preventive measures, the State Government claimed that it is keeping close watch on the situation and police have been sensitized about the matter. Parents, traditional heads and local people have also been made aware of this deplorable malaise, the Government stated.