We may be pardoned for not sharing the enthusiasm of the MUA Government on the much-glorified surrender ceremonies which have happened once too often under the watch of the present Chief Minister. Militant outfits are in simple language criminal gangs who wear the aura of respectability by giving themselves some high sounding names that have a ring of patriotism and make them appear as freedom fighters. These names then become fancy acronyms. Now we have lost count of the number of outfits operating in the Garo Hills. Each time one group surrenders, there is a fringe section that remains intransigent because the pay-off is not so good since the person might not have been a leader. So he refuses to surrender and becomes a leader of another factional outfit with the fire power to expend and become a thorn in the flesh of the district administration and the police. In another year when he becomes the established leader and gets a better deal then he might surrender. That the Government makes this charade look “respectable” by the presence of Chief Minister, other ministers and/ or the top police brass at the surrender ceremony is unfortunate because in plain language it is the glorification of criminals.
These militant outfits have created a reign of terror in Garo Hills for over a decade. Some outfits have been playing footsie with one or other politician and we know who they are. The outfits would not have survived without the patronage of the powerful. The Chief Minister has been sending out regular warnings that politicians who are hand in glove with militants would be exposed. So why is the FIR filed by a particular candidate who was intimidated by the GNLA, working for another candidate, during the election campaign, not allowed to be pursued? But this question is better addressed to the police itself. What is the status of the case today? Are the police being told to go slow because the CM and that particular minister who is alleged to be close to the GNLA are now in the same boat especially when he is facing dissidence within his own Party? Is this the way to use militancy as a leverage to get compliance from political rivals? The people who fuel militancy in Meghalaya need to be exposed. Militants must go through the process of law and cannot be given amnesty by the Chief Minister and his Government.
And it is a pity that Baljek Airport instead of being used for what it was created has now become a camp where militants live off the fat of the land on taxpayers’ money! Will the High Court of Meghalaya step in to straighten the system?