SHILLONG: A surrender which went wrong in 2007 due to the move of the state government to follow up some criminal cases against the then area commander of ANVC Sohan D Shira has resulted in the militant leader forming the dreaded outfit GNLA along with deputy superintendent of police Champion Sangma, an official revealed .
The official admitted that if Sohan was properly rehabilitated, he would not have ventured into forming another outfit like GNLA which has now become powerful with Sohan becoming its sole supremo.
Sohan surrendered before the then Chief Minister DD Lapang in the presence of then Deputy Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and senior government officials at the official residence of Lapang on August 25, 2007.
“There was some business activities including running sawmills undertaken by Sohan in Garo Hills following his surrender, but the district administration and the police went after him to put an end to the business activities by stating that they were illegal”, the official added.
A senior cadre of ANVC-B who was an associate of Sohan admitted that the state government machinery had tried to torment Sohan after his surrender in the name of following up criminal cases.
Sources said that the irony is that while the state government did not follow up the pending criminal cases against HNLC chairman Julius Dorphang who also surrendered in 2007, the treatment meted out to Sohan was allegedly different.
There was a twist to the surrender of Sohan in 2007 as he was about to join another militant outfit LAEF after deserting ANVC when the state government sent feelers to him to come overground.
It was three days after the LAEF commander in chief Peter Marak was gunned down by police at Kalak under Samanda block in East Garo Hills that Sohan surrendered before the police on August 25, 2007.
In fact, Peter Marak was to meet Sohan in Guwahati to chalk out steps to work together with LAEF. However, the meeting did not take place.
During the surrender of Sohan, Lapang had claimed that after leaving the ANVC, Sohan had expressed his willingness to join the mainstream.
Earlier, the ANVC leaders had filed a missing report to the police to trace Sohan after he had deserted the militant outfit as its ‘area commander’ on July 25, 2007.
The police later confirmed that Shira, after deserting the ANVC camp, exchanged three pistols and others weapons, including grenades, with the LAEF for money at the house of a Nokma in Garo Hills. The Nokma was later arrested by the police. He also made a confessional statement in this regard.
To prevent possible strengthening of the LAEF under Sohan, the police had put pressure on the clan and family members of the ANVC leader to ask him to surrender before the police.
Though initially, police had maintained that Sohan had sold weapons to the LAEF and joined the militant outfit, subsequently, the government maintained that it had no information on this.
At the end part of 2009, Sohan had tied up with Champion Sangma to form GNLA and in March, 2010, the then Chief Minister DD Lapang informed the Assembly that Sangma had deserted the police to join GNLA.
After the arrest of Sangma in July 2012 by the police, Sohan who is the commander in chief of GNLA, did not appoint any new Chairman for the outfit as he mantled the vacant post.
A senior police official admitted that despite the arrest and killings of many GNLA cadres, police are finding it difficult to neutralize the entire group under the leadership of Sohan.
Sources said that talks with GNLA is crucial to bring lasting peace in Garo Hills even though the police had neutralized many cadres of various splinter groups recently in Garo Hills coupled with the signing of peace pact with UALA.
