SHILLONG: The Opposition member Clifford Marak (GNC) on Wednesday alleged that there is lack of co-ordination between the police and the home department on the issue of neutralizing GNLA militants.
Moving a call attention motion on the claim made in November by Senior police official GHP Raju that GNLA will be neutralized within three months, Marak wondered as to how the official cam make such a statement which indicates that there is a gap between the police and home department.
Though the claim to neutralize GNLA was made by Raju, there is no respite to the activities of the militant group in Garo Hills.
According to Marak, the DGP, other officials and the Home department should work in tandem and not in isolation on the issue of tackling militancy. He added that there should not be any scope for any gap between the police and the government.
“The police officers are basically bureaucrats. They know ) how to present a matter in a twisted way before the Ministers and MLAs as the police officers are well equipped with everything”, Marak said.
However in her reply, the Home Minister Roshan Warjri denied the allegation that there is a gap between the police and the Government.
According to Warjri, the police official (Raju) made the statement in the context of the loss of lives of police personnel after they were ambushed by the GNLA.
“Though the statement of the police official appears a bit ambitious, the intention should not be underestimated”, she said. According to Warjri, it was a well meaning statement to contain militancy.
She also said that during the last year, as many as 107 militants were arrested and 13 neutralized. Moreover, six assault rifles and 18 pistols were seized besides arms and ammunition.
However, she admitted that inspite of the best efforts, the GNLA carries on with the criminal activities due to the difficult terrain in Garo Hills.
Inspite of constraints in resources, the police and other security forces did a commendable job and 15 militants surrendered last year.
She also said that use of force alone is not a solution to deal with militancy.
To a question by Marak, the Home Minister said that in 2012-13 while Meghalaya police personnel and a CRPF jawan were killed in insurgency related incident, in 2013-14, five Meghalaya police personnel and 2 BSF men lost their lives.