By Albert Thyrniang
Garo Hills is going the Manipur way! Militant groups keep on multiplying. Up to date there are at least six commonly known militant outfits in the 8169 square kilometer Garo Hills. Two, namely, the parent Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) and its sprinter group, ANVC-B are officially under ceasefire or peace talks with the government. The rest, notably the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), the United Achik Liberation Army (UALA) and the Achik National Liberation Army (ANLA) are active in the backward areas of Garo Hills and in adjoining areas of Assam and West Khasi Hills.
Most of the mushrooming groups are offshoots of the Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC). Formed in December 1995 with the demand for Garoland state consisting of the present Garo Hills in Meghalaya and a part of the Kamrup and the Goalpara districts in adjoining Assam, the outfit was proscribed on November 16, 2000 for violence and subversive activities. However, on July 23, 2004, it entered into a tripartite ceasefire agreement with the Government of India and Government of Meghalaya. Though the cease-fire agreement has been extended from time to time, talks have yielded little progress, leaving the militant organization unsatisfied and disgruntled.
The ceasefire agreement between the ANVC and the government was a sigh of relief. There was hope and expectation that the ceasefire would finally bring peace to the region. However, that was not to be. Instead of peace, violence has been escalating. The Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) was formed in 2009 by a police deserter Pakchara R Sangma, alias Champion Sangma (‘Chairman’) and ANVC deserter Sohan D Shira (‘Commander-in-Chief’). The members too are believed to be mainly deserted cadres of the ANVC and the Liberation of Achik Elite Force (LAEF). The dreaded banned secessionist outfit has been indulging in killing, extortion, kidnapping, bomb blasts, and attacks on security forces. As the ‘Chairman’ has been arrested and jailed, the hardcore and feared ‘Commander-in-Chief’ is ruling the roost.
More bad news followed for the peace loving people as speculations of a vertical ANVC split proved to be true. In April, 2012, the former ANVC spokesperson Rimpu Bernard Marak and the West Khasi Hills based Mukost Marak announced the formation of ANVC-B. The split was apparently due to the dissatisfaction of a section of the outfit over the snail pace progress of peace talks and the non-commitment of the government of India to consider the demand for a Garoland Autonomous Council along the lines of the Bodoland Autonomous Council. Like its parent organization, the ANVC-B too later inked a peace truce with the government of Meghalaya.
ANVC-B could keep its flock together only for less than a year as Sengbirth Marak, who likes to be called Norok X Momin, ‘Action Commander’, while on bail, formed the breakaway faction named United Achik Liberation Army (UALA) in February 2013. Norok had daringly attacked the Williamnagar jail on 2nd February, 2013 in which three jailers were dragged out of the jail and shot dead in cold blood.
Another group known as Achik National Liberation Army (ANLA) surfaced last October. While giving reasons for its formation, the ‘Commander in Chief’, Tengsang Achik, issued diktats to the public representatives demanding from them accountability and development. He also promised to take up the job reservation issue and ban on sale of land to non-Garos.
Just when we think that the litany is over, the emergence of two new gangs has come to light. They are the GNLA-F and Achik National Security Force (ANSF). The former is led by former GNLA men, Reading T Sangma, Jack Baichung and Savio R Marak. Garo Hills and its adjoining areas of Assam and Khasi Hills are now plagued with militias. Spurts of violence have increased alarmingly. In the last few days brutal killings were witnessed. On Diwali day, suspected UALA militants gruesomely gunned down eleven Rabhas (reports say seven) in Gendamari in the Meghalaya-Assam border of Goalpara district. The carnage was mindless and senseless. What do the gunmen want to achieve by shooting down defenseless innocent people? The incident could lead to a backlash. On 14th November, the Rabha Viper Force unleashed terror by firing and lobbing bombs in a Garo village and kidnapping one person. Fears of a repeat of the 2001 ethnic clash between the Rabhas and Garos could be a reality.
The human slaughter could worsen the already volatile situation in the multi-ethnic inhabited Goalpara district. It could further affect the already fragile relationship between the Garo and Rabha community on the one hand and the between the different tribal communities residing in the Goalpara district on the other. The non-Rabhas are opposing the holding of elections to Rabha Hasong Autonomous council. Earlier the Rabhas had protested against the Panchayat elections in the Rabha Hasong area.
Two days after the Diwali murders, on 5th November, the GNLA mercilessly pounded bullets on five cops in a well planned and executed ambush at Bangjakona in South Garo Hills. Questions were raised as to why the five policemen were made to travel in a single open vehicle in a GNLA stronghold that too after Sohan threatened to take revenge on the police for seizing valuable assets from his residence after a raid one week earlier.
The violence extends to West and South West Khasi Hills too. On 8th November suspected ANVC – B militants shot dead two BSF personnel at the remote Indo-Bangladesh, Ketakona Border Out-post, 140 km from Borsora police station. Though ANVC -B has denied its involvement and put the blame on its bitter rival, the GNLA instead, the fact remains that violence took place and deaths have occurred. Two security men who manned our porous border with Bangladesh had to fall victim to militancy.
In addition to killings, kidnapping of traders are also reported. Extortions especially in the coal belts are on and are bound to intensify as the season for digging ‘black diamond’ has arrived. The Government has vowed to neutralize the proscribed GNLA in three month. As the State Police prepare to take on heavily armed GNLA, it has to deal with other more than half a dozen armed groups. ‘Garo Hills will slip into a civil war zone’. There will be bloodshed. In the war between the security forces and the insurgents the sufferers will be the ordinary, poor citizens who toil and till for survival.
Garo Hills needs peace not violence! We cannot live in violence and hatred! Christmas is around the corner. Everyone loves to celebrate Christmas. The Government, the public representatives, the bureaucrats, the police, the security forces, the militants themselves, the society – consisting of the Churches, the NGOs, civil groups, etc – everyone celebrates Christmas. In fact, we celebrate it elaborately. How can we celebrate the feast of peace and love meaningfully in an atmosphere of violence and hatred? Hence, it is a collective duty to restore peace permanently to these once calm hills. It is to be seen how all stakeholders think and do to respond to the present bleak situation. Violence is anti-religion, anti-Christian and above all anti-human. Embrace peace, shun violence!