By DK Joshua
I have been posted in different parts of Garo hills for nearly two decades now and consider it my own home. What is happening here therefore pains me immensely. There is utter chaos and lawlessness in this region. It appears that the police are fighting against the tide. The reason I say so is because the police department is blamed for the present state of affairs. The police will never win the war against militancy in Garo hill because they are not only fighting the militants but also the NGOs, the public and government employees who perpetually malign and cripple the police force instead of supporting them in their fight against terror. The police department has till date, never given any rejoinder, and continues to remain silent even when being kicked and punched from all corners. But their silence is neither solving any issues nor improving their PR nor restoring peace in the region.
I am a firm believer that the rule of law is absolutely necessary in a civilised society. But if we consistently run down the law enforcing agencies then chaos and lawlessness are natural consequences. My observation is that the majority of local population of Garo Hills are anti-government, anti-police by nature and do not like to be governed. They lack respect for laws and rules. This is visible in the heart of Garo Hills – Tura, where bikers do not wear helmets; people park their vehicles anywhere, even in the middle of the road; drink alcohol openly on the culverts, bridges, streets in the evening; do not follow the norms in their offices and will use ANVC, GSU and other NGO’s muscle power to get work done. A policeman here cannot enforce the laws as the mere sight of khaki invokes hatred amongst the local population. And yes there is massive corruption in departments like PWD, PHE, DRDA, BDO, Supply, Excise, Agriculture, Soil, Forest, GHADC etc. Money received from the State and Centre meant for development are siphoned off. Yet the corrupt officers are respected and held in high esteem here.
The educated class and government employees and officials demand special treatment and with the attitude of ‘I am so and so’, ‘relative of so and so.’ To cite an example, if a policeman should check any public transport he would be hurled abuses and insults. If the policeman reacts then the scene turns uglier. Police checking has therefore become a mere formality as most policemen prefer to avoid the hullabaloo. Female passengers are never checked for fear of altercation and allegation of molestation. In other North Eastern states female smugglers of drugs, arms and explosives have been nabbed. Many non-Garo travellers feel secure on seeing a policeman on the road but I fail to understand why the people of Garo hills are so averse to pro active policing.
Interestingly the same belligerent fellow travellers from Garo hills do not mind being checked by Assam police and army personnel while passing through Assam. The incident of vandalism by public in Williamnagar after the police arrested the gang of robbers and refused to hand them over to a vigilante group for punishment and similar incidents at Tura following the rape rumours where the public resorted to confrontation with the district administration and law enforcers are wexamples of anarchy. Last year there was an outcry from NGOs and the public, charging the police of violating the human rights of 4 ANVC cadres killed in an encounter. Also the death of known GNLA cadres in police lock up at Tura and Chokpot this year made the public rant about police atrocities. This exposes the mentality of the public of Garo Hills, who remain silent when the militants are extorting and killing hundreds of innocent people on pretext of non payment of tax or being police informers etc., while condemning the police for taking action against the perpetrators of such crimes.
The atrocities committed by GNLA which has so far killed several innocent people and policemen; which kidnap and extorts our hard earned money is overlooked by everyone. It appears that in Garo Hills only militants and terrorists are human and only their rights are violated by police while ordinary innocent citizens killed and tortured by GNLA and other militants are not human and have no rights. The MLA of Nongalbibra who condemned the death of GNLA cadre Balsan S Marak, his cousin, who had past criminal records, and had distributed GNLA demand notes to some Government officials of Tura is silent over the killing of innocent people of his constituency like Samson, Chingkam, Simon, Minchipa, Dikarong etc. Time to get real Mr MLA!
In Garo hills, a dutiful administrator or police officer enforcing the law is disliked by all. A false and fabricated complaint of molestation, police brutality, harassments, corruption etc., is hurled at the officer, which doesn’t take a minute to spread like wildfire. Even the elite educated community which often ridicules rumours as Garo Songbad become irrational when it comes to rumours about a magistrate or a policeman and are ready to believe the worst and to castigate the officer/s concerned. Likewise the local media too love to bash up police and to publicly humiliate the police department and strip them bare for all to see in print without even verifying the actual facts. What passes as local news are the views and opinions of few vested interested individuals and groups of persons, containing little or no truth. These individuals and groups with vested interests have dubious antecedents. For them the prevailing lawlessness presents the perfect opportunity to mint money and attack the administration and police who had taken action against them in the past for their misdemeanours. The aspirant politician also thrives in this situation. These vested interested people mobilise the public particularly the mindless and directionless youth and students, mainly from rural areas to take part in rallies, bandhs, processions etc. They then give misleading press releases thereby aggravating the situation and indirectly supporting militancy instead of assisting the district administration in restoring peace in the region. It a known fact that some MLAs of Garo Hills won the election with the active help of GNLA and other militant groups!
The businessmen and government employees of Garo hills also support militant activities by indirectly paying huge amounts to the militants, thereby diverting developmental funds to the militants and to themselves, instead of reporting the matter to police. I have seen my close friends in government service. Their attitude towards the police is unbecoming of a government employee. They insist that a policeman on duty should give them special treatment and start flashing their ID cards and calling up their contacts when their vehicles are stopped at check points. One local senior government officer slapped a constable in public for checking his bag at a check point and called up the DC and SP and threatened to report the matter to the NGOs calling it police harassment. Another senior local officer filed an FIR against a senior police officer for checking his official vehicle parked in an isolated location at 1:00 AM, instead of taking action against his driver for misusing his official vehicle and questioning his activities.
There is the case of a drunken local doctor who had a brawl with police constables, and the doctors’ association ceased work. The constables fighting the militants were transferred, punished and suspended, but nothing happened to the rowdy doctor. When a doctor was robbed the fraternity again went on strike, and the OC and other policemen of the area were removed from their posts, transferred and suspended. The attitudes of the IAS and local senior MCS officers are no less questionable. They liberally grant bail to criminals, militants and their political over-ground workers. I have personally seen a GNLA member roaming freely on bail. He is the same person who had earlier threatened and collected money from my non tribal businessmen friends.
When the IAS and MCS officers were stripped off the red beacons by the Supreme Court they replaced it with orange coloured lights thereby breaking the law. So how can they enforce law and order?
The case of the ANVC cadre granted bail by the ADM who later killed several innocents, including the jailor is a classic case of slack justice but these government officials are never held accountable and are instead promoted. The District Courts and the ADM Courts have till date not passed any order for confiscating the properties of relatives of ANVC and GNLA cadres and never questioned the source of income of these people in spite of several arrests made by police.
The police department itself lacks commitment. Senior officers are only interested in VIP security. Hundreds of policemen are seen on roads right from Paikan to Tura and several dozens of police gypsy accompany the VIP but most of the police outposts and OC of Garo hills do not have vehicles and sufficient men for patrolling. The police department are confused about their role against ANVC whose Chairman is seen roaming freely in Tura. My friends in the police department rue that any successful operation against militants and criminals is followed by a hue and cry for magisterial enquiry, and allegations of human rights abuse. Policemen are suspended, arrested, grilled and questioned repeatedly for months and treated as criminals for taking action against the real criminals and without any support from their seniors in the police department. Senior police officer prefers giving ridiculous statements to the media, revealing their tactics and future course of action, instead of arming their foot soldiers properly. It seems there is acute shortage of vehicles, weaponry, manpower and resources for operations and policemen are overburdened with miscellaneous duties. No wonder terrorists have the upper hand. The slaughtering of five policemen in Baghmara by the GNLA, the burning down of Chokpot PS by the public shows that lower ranks are not provided sufficient infrastructure, vehicles and weapons whereas over a thousand men are provided for VIP security duties. The demoralised, overworked and castrated police force can never win a battle if support is lacking from within.
The public of Garo hills tend to glorify militants and terrorists. Former militants command more respect in society than pastors, priests, successful entrepreneurs, renowned social workers, clean and sincere public servants etc. The sudden increase in wealth of ANVC and GNLA members and their relatives inspire the youths from poor background who want to get rich quickly, to take up arms. Suddenly, more than educational degrees, being a member of ANVC, GNLA and other terrorist organisations is more sought after. In the past 3-4 years there are several crore-patis belonging either to the GNLA or ANVC but no one questions their rags to riches stories. The local youth shamelessly collect money from vehicles and petty businessmen on the slightest pretext. Even students’ unions of the government college are seen collecting money from non tribal businessmen. The District Administration and District Councils encourage such extortion by issuing permits for check gates on all roads. Once upon a time the people of Garo hills shied away from such activities, nowadays they prefer to justify their misdeeds.
The recent protest when an over-ground militant member died in police custody evoked huge public reaction but when innocents die nobody cares. When an innocent lady was killed by GNLA at Chokpot public reaction was minimal and her character was in fact questioned by some. Does this mean only GNLA and other militants have the right to kill anyone and police are not supposed to touch, beat or kill the terrorist but only pretend to go after them? Again NGOs are demanding compensation of ridiculous amounts for dead terrorists but there is no demand for compensation of the dead innocent victims of terrorism. In Meghalaya criminals reap maximum benefits. They earn crores by looting people and when they are killed their family members are compensated by the Government thanks to so-called Human Rights NGOs.
All of the above reasons account for the breakdown of law and order in Garo Hills. The atmosphere here is conducive for terrorism and lawlessness as the district administration and the police department which are responsible for law and order commands no respect and lack public cooperation. Failure on the part of the State Government to protect the police department particularly with regard to baseless, motivated allegations is a contributing factor. If Garo Hills is to become peaceful then we should all stand united in the fight against terrorists without fear of their threats. HNLC was eradicated from Khasi & Jaintia hills due to public support for the police department and tough Government policy of not accepting agreeing to a ceasefire and also by confiscating the properties of militants. Kudos to Lemison, MLA who openly spoke out against GNLA, ANVC and their activities. More MLAs/ministers should follow suit and practice what they preach. Love and respects for the law should be instilled right from childhood if we are to live in a civilised and progressive society. We should not be influenced by negative propaganda against the government, the district administration and the police department. In fact we should assist the police in their fight against terrorism.
This article might offend many but someone needs to speak out the real truth of what is happening in Garo hills because the more this anarchy spreads the more is the threat to the lives of ordinary persons like me and several others posted in Garo hills who do not have Maharis or ANVC or GNLA to protect and spare us.