TURA: Less than three days since the surrender of his injured commander who once oversaw the action unit of his banned rebel organization, and in the face of dwindling numbers of cadres who have been abandoning his ideology, the elusive GNLA chief Sohan D Shira has reached out to his former members and reportedly managed to convince half a dozen of them to return to the fold.
Over a week ago, as many as 20 rebels, 11 from deputy army chief Rupanto Marak and nine from Baichung Momin’s command, had escaped with arms virtually disintegrating the GNLA and exposing the underbelly of the once dreaded militant outfit.
GNLA action commander Ajan Ch Momin, alias Jimmy, who was nursing a bullet wound on his leg was compelled to give himself up in Williamnagar during the Durga Puja holidays on Monday handing over an AK rifle.
As soon as the surrender took place, Sohan took the advantage to reach out to those disgruntled with Jimmy.
As the action commander of GNLA, Ajan Momin had earned the wrath of many cadres and senior members of the rebel group through his actions.
Many cadres who were allegedly mistreated by Jimmy abandoned the group while others envious of his sudden rise to the top post waited on the sidelines.
The execution of several GNLA cadres by the action commander on suspicion of being police collaborators or for attempting to surrender had earned him the wrath of the juniors.
Ajan Momin was the face behind a GNLA execution video more than a year ago.
In that video that went viral, a group of armed GNLA rebels escort a blindfolded victim to the middle of the road, somewhere on the national highway between Songsak and Rongjeng. After forcing their victim to kneel down the militants open fire in typical target practice style killing the unidentified victim. The video ends with the action commander grinning towards the camera lens.
The same militant had led an execution team which killed a former cadre identified as Kodolok, who happened to be the cousin of jailed GNLA chairman Champion Sangma.
Taking advantage of the disenchantment of the cadres, Sohan reportedly sent feelers to those who ran away managing to bring back around half a dozen men.
According to sources, the 5-6 cadres who returned to the GNLA group are said to be from those deserters belonging to Rupanto’s command.
“We do have intel about Sohan appealing to the deserters to return but it is yet to be verified,” said a police source.
The police source also admitted that Sohan is using Jimmy’s surrender as bait to bring back his former members since there is a great dislike for the former action commander by the junior cadres.
Meanwhile, an angry Sohan has reportedly formed a unit calling itself the ‘Erase group’ to target those who abandoned his organization.
Among those who abandoned him include his former bodyguard Salman who is now believed to be operating in the Chokpot zone with his own group of rebels independent of the GNLA.
Sustained police ops bearing down on GNLA; reveal former commander
The former action commander of GNLA, Ajan Momin alias Jimmy, has told authorities that sustained police operations are having a severe impact on the cadres of the rebel group who have to shift location almost every day with limited resources.
“There is food shortage and no time to rest as cadres have to shift location daily to avoid detection. Many are waiting to give themselves up,” the GNLA commander is said to have told police.
He himself managed to flee taking advantage of the disarray during the night while they were out on movement.
While the rebels were heading towards Ganingbibra village at night, a villager with a torchlight, was spotted heading in their direction. Mistaking him for a police team the GNLA group fled in separate directions during which Jimmy escaped and contacted police with assurance of a surrender.
