Breakaway group from ASAK blamed for abduction of banker from Gasuapara
TURA: The Garo outfit ASAK has blamed its former comrades, who abandoned them to form a new group, as being behind the recent kidnapping of a bank staffer from Gasuapara which led to the closure of all banking institutions in Garo Hills.
A section of militants from the A’chik Songna An’pachakgipa Kotok (ASAK) outfit led by its finance secretary Jack Marak abandoned the group with sizeable number of weapons to forge their own armed organization which police believe have been christened as A’chik Matgrik Elite Force (AMEF).
The chairman of ASAK calling himself Cheo Challang Marak issued a statement to The Shillong Times revealing that his group’s finance secretary Jack Marak fled from the outfit’s camp with three AK rifles and eight pistols.
The deserter also took along with him four cadres from the main group whose names have been revealed as Jojo, Ringrak, Songna and Braram.
“The reason for their desertion is because they had broken the rules and code of ASAK for their own personal interests by randomly abducting civilians and extorting money from them,” claimed the ASAK chief.
The outfit has distanced itself from the recent abduction of a bank manager and staffer of SBI in Garo Hills claiming the incident to be the handiwork of Jack Marak and his team.
“The abduction of a branch manager and a clerk was undertaken by Jack Marak without the consent of the high command for his own personal interests. They extracted over thirty lakh rupees from the two victims,” claimed ASAK and added that the accused fled to avoid action from the leadership.
ASAK alleges Meghalaya cop of links
ASAK has alleged that former Police Circle Inspector of Williamnagar and current DSP T.C. Chacko was keeping close contact with deserter Jack Marak much before he abandoned the outfit.
“Jack Marak was keeping contact with DSP Chakku (Chacko) and previous attempts were made to eliminate some ASAK members,” claimed Cheo Challang.
“The desertion of such members who proved to be detrimental to the group is welcomed because they were projecting ASAK and the Garo community in bad light before the rest of the country. ASAK will only grow stronger in the absence of such people,” added Cheo Challang.
GNLA turns back minors
The GNLA has turned back many minors who wanted to join the militant outfit, senior cadre of the outfit, Savio Marak has claimed.
In a statement issued to the media on Thursday, the GNLA said, “We never recruit minors and instead send back those coming to join the organization with an advice to go back and live a peaceful life and concentrate in education and to seek their own good future”.
The GNLA also denied that they have been recruiting uneducated Garo youths into their organization.
Criticizing an article appeared in Tehelka on the Garo Hills situation, the GNLA leader said that the two writers of the article depended on second-hand sources for their article and misinterpreted the facts.