By Patricia Mukhim
So much has happened in the last few weeks in Garo Hills, not least among which is the arrest of Rapuish Sangma, Vice Chairman of the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) from Bengaluru and culminating with the kidnapping of Arvind Kumar the Manager, State Bank of India, Ampati Branch and his rescue from Antekagre in Rangsakona. The police have not been able to clearly say which militant outfit is responsible for the abduction of Arvind Kumar followed by a ransom demand. According to Kumar, the abductors called his parents and asked for a ransom of Rs 50 lakhs.
It is interesting to note that the GNLA communiqué from Savio Marak its senior cadre says that Tura Police have blamed GNLA for the kidnapping of the bank manager. Marak says the entire kidnapping drama was staged-managed by the police to win laurels for themselves and because they wanted it to be a news splash in the national media. Savio Marak also said that the kidnapping drama was to tarnish the name of the GNLA and to get more central forces. These same thoughts were echoed in the Facebook posts of some a leading woman activist here in Shillong and the same comments also featured in Champion Sangma’s wall. The activist’s post says it might have been the police who killed Josbina Marak at Chokpot to deflect attention from themselves on the custodial deaths that had occurred around the same time. This indeed is a serious allegation. And anyone making such an allegation must be having very close links both with the police and with the militant outfit since the lady seems to know the movements of not just the GNLA but also of every other outfit. She has virtually vouched for the innocence of all the ten odd outfits. And this after GNLA claimed that Josbina was killed for being a police informer. Only when the condemnations poured in did the GNLA deny that Tengton the killer was still their cadre. They called him a deserter.
Of course there are other posts that are equally toxic and which attract ‘likes’ from like-minded ‘friends’ which include a cross section of Shillong’s well-heeled society and left liberal intellectuals and Luddites. I am all for liberalism but not for lawlessness. And if we keep posting the preamble of the Constitution on Facebook how come we are so quick to label all but our good selves as unconstitutional?
In a society made more complex by militancy and criminality of a different brand one is at pains to understand who is on whose side. And while the Facebook types engage in their intellectual sparring and level all kinds of allegations on the law enforcers and even calling them the devil’s own allies there are real people; innocent people, out there in the backwaters of Garo Hills who are dying every day. Why do these armchair intellectuals fight their battles over Facebook? Why not go into these peripheries and live there for a couple of months to know what it is like to be a non-combatant living in fear and trepidation in Garo Hills? It angers me when people act holier than thou and see everyone as potential agent provocateurs. They see themselves as innocent citizens who must nab every sex worker while allowing the men who solicit their services to get away. Who gave these women vigilante’s who on the one hand claim to be liberals to punish and torture the sex workers in Garo Hills? And since when have vigilante’s also been liberals? It is easy to label these solicitors of sex work as “corrupt politicians and their henchmen” etc. So why not name the politicians?
So are we to believe that because Arvind Kumar served in the chief minister’s constituency, that he collaborated in a drama where he would be kidnapped and then released? Did Arvind Kumar mislead all his higher ups who were to on a one day strike to protest that kidnapping? And why is it that the statements of the social activist tallies with that of the GNLA? Is there a connection here that we are missing?
Militancy has strange sympathisers. Criminals too often get empathy from unexpected quarters. When Fullmoon Dhar was arrested some years ago, many who this writer spoke to in Jaintia Hills were actually very relieved. They said they could now breathe easy. They guy had killed a woman in the most gruesome manner in the outskirts of Shillong. The same activist claimed that Fullmoon killed the young woman at the behest of some powerful coal mafia and that he was basically a ‘fixer.’ An enquiry commission was set up on the demand of a group of well meaning NGOs “not to go into the jailbreak incident” but to enquire why a certain powerful coal mine owner and politician who was called for questioning by the police on the jailbreak incident was released post haste. That was the principle term of reference of the case. What is interesting is that as the enquiry commission progressed the activist made her peace with the coal mine owner and even defended him as being a pawn in someone’s chess board. She later became the principal informant to the enquiry commission since the other NGOs backed off. The enquiry commission dragged and its principle agenda became how Fullmoon Dhar was killed and whether it was a fake encounter. The focus of the enquiry shifted completely. Now how this activist gets to know all the inside story of every crime in this State better than even the best sleuths in this country left me flabbergasted at first. But not anymore!
I learnt later that this activist plays the game both ways. She has friends within the police establishment and this institution suffers from a lot of internal dissension and rivalries. Rivals use her to fight their pitched battles, which is why she levels all manner of allegations against select policemen and not at others!
Whether we like it or not we need a police force to bring in some semblance of law and order in society. We cannot malign and discredit the entire police force because of the misdemeanours of a few. And it is a fact that there are criminal elements in the police force as there are outside it. Our selection process for policemen is so corrupt and flawed that only those who pay money get in, no matter what their character traits. Attempts have been made to cleanse the system by publishing online the results of all police recruitment tests as soon as the tallies are done. But one is told that political interference is not completely over and done with. The present DGP must continue the good practice started by his predecessors of not succumbing to political pressure insofar as police recruitment is concerned in order to stem the rot and venality in the force. What surprises many is how several members of the same family are in the police force? Isn’t this why we have serious clashes of interest? We need a police force that is integral and is bound by the spirit of fraternity, not one that is corroded by internal dissensions and serves only the political dispensation. Such a force would not use someone to become the agent provocateur to destroy the entire establishment.
Militancy survives because there are moles in the police. Only if the police establishment can purge itself of these moles can it hope to fight militancy with some degree of success. Social media is a good indicator of who is anti-police and why? I wonder if the police establishment even have the time to go through Champion Sangma’s Facebook page. The denial from the Jail authorities on Champion’s use of two mobile SIM cards came too quick and without due investigation. It is a face-saving attempt to say the least. This is an example of how saving face is more important than getting at the truth. Not a very good policing model! And Champion indeed has several sympathisers outside the prison walls and on social media! And this is no laughing matter!