‘State govt responsible for splinter groups’

SHILLONG: While the case of ANVC was cited as the reason for the State government to stop all political talks with militant outfits in the State as per the recent announcement of the chief minister, the disbanded militant outfit – in turn – has blamed the government for the delay in fulfilling the various demands of the origination which resulted in the formation of splinter groups.
The chief minister, during a recent news conference, had said that the government learnt bitten lessons by holding political dialogue with ANVC as many splinter groups including GNLA were formed by breaking away from the parent outfit.
However, reacting to the this, former publicity secretary of ANVC, Arist Sangma, said the militant outfit waited for long since the suspension of operations on July 24, 2004, as it took 10 long years for signing the agreed text for settlement and subsequent disbanding of the organization.
“The previous government kept us waiting for long and our demands were not fulfilled in time which created frustration among our cadres resulting in formation of splinter groups,” the former ANVC leader said.
According to the former militant leader, even now if the government is not keen on fulfilling the pending demands, this will send a wrong message to many cadres of other militant groups who are still in the jungle as they will be reluctant to come forward to join the mainstream.