End of road for splinter groups in Meghalaya
SHILLONG: GNLA, the prominent militant group in Garo Hills, is left alone with its splinter groups either smoking the peace pipe or surrendering themselves to join the mainstream.
A senior police official on Monday provided the success story of the police for the last three weeks in terms of neutralizing the militant groups.
The official said that besides signing peace pact between UALA and Meghalaya government on December 18, the constant police operations resulted in the surrender of Timudh D. Marak, C-in-C of AMEF and Sangjan Arengh, chairman, AMEF before DGP Rajiv Mehta recently .
This was followed by an encounter between the remaining AMEF groups and East Garo Hills Police in which one AMEF cadre Lekichand Sangma was injured on December 17.
Further, police arrested two AMEF cadres Chandra Marak (27) and Itdom Marak (17) and recovered arms and ammunition, GNLA ID Cards, demand notes and seals of AMEF from the place of occurrence. This operation then led to the surrender of nine more AMEF cadres before Davis N.R. Marak, Superintendent of Police, East Garo Hills on December 18 which included the newly appointed chairman Tangsil G. Momin @ Cheang and C-in-C Winder Ch. Marak @ Matchang. They also deposited one SLR rifle with one magazine, one SBBL gun, 3 9 mm Pistols, 4 7.65 mm pistols, SLRs and other ammunition.
Winder Ch. Marak @ Matchang, who sustained bullet injuries on December 17 at Jangchigittim near Nongchram, East Garo Hills was taken to Rongjeng CHC for medical treatment and later referred to Civil Hospital Williamnagar for treatment. This marks the end of road for AMEF, according to police.
Similarly, there was a major cleansing operation in West Garo Hills led by Mukesh Kumar Singh, SP West Garo Hills, Bruno A. Sangma, Additional . SP s and Vivekanand Singh, SDPO Dadenggre. The focus in West Garo Hills was on ASAK and ANLA groups. ASAK groups had carried out kidnappings in West Garo Hills particularly in Bogularbhita – Tikrikilla – Damal Asim area.
The modus operandi of ASAK was to either lure the victims (mostly non-tribal businessmen) or kidnap the labourers working in pineapple, bettel nut gardens. They kidnapped three traders Habibor Bepari, Monju Bepari and Mukaddas Ali from in October 2014 from Bamundunga market. They extorted money from one Blenson Momin of Alokdia in March 2015 and kidnapped his son-in-law in April 2015 from Alokdia.
They also kidnapped two labourers, Mojidur Hussain and Nur Amin in July 2015 from Renchigre. They murdered one Garo person and threw the body in Domisalgre in November 5.
Their activity also centered in and around Jangrapara, Amphang and Debragre markets. Some of the ASAK members were earlier part of UALA who managed to escape from Dajugre camp which was busted by police last year.
The ASAK cadres under the leadership of Lance Corporal Abri Sangma alias Gathare provided food, shelter and other supporst to wandering militant groups of GNLA, LAEF, UALA . They were on the run due to heavy pressure from the people and due to counter insurgency operations by police. With the active co-operation from public, almost the whole group is now behind the bars.
Set back to 29 ASAK members
Both the surrendered and arrested from ASAK amounted to a total of 29
Similarly, West Garo Hills police also launched operations against ANLA in connection with the kidnapping case of one Zafar Ali of Padeldoba, where four ANLA cadres were arrested Sengbath D Marak Dinesh Ch Sangma Hef R Marak and Dadibar D Sangma.
According to police, a significant aspect of these operations is that thirty three probationary deputy SPs who joined Meghalaya police recently have been taking part in these operations including women police personnel.