TURA: A senior cadre of the GNLA who was recruited by its chief Sohan D. Shira surrendered to police in East Garo Hills on Thursday.
Mustan R. Sangma (22), who hails from Bolkinggre village near Williamnagar, surrendered to the East Garo Hills SP in presence of family members and church leaders. No weapon was surrendered.Sangma joined GNLA in 2015. He told police that Sohan recruited him to the 7th batch of trainees.
The surrendered rebel said he was present in the camp in South Garo Hills that was raided last month in which one cadre, Ading Ch Marak alias Lukseng, was killed.
Sangma said he decided to surrender owing to the pressure of counter-insurgency operations. Police said Sangma’s statements reveal the GNLA chief’s fallacies and the outfit’s weak points.
“This is a huge setback to GNLA’s terrorist activities. The cadre revealed that Sohan D Shira is acting selfishly and now the organisation is involved in extortion for his personal benefits. All the cadres are frustrated. New recruits, most of whom are 15-16-year-old boys, have been given weapons without training. They are treated like slaves and are made to carry ration, wash clothes, cook food, carry injured cadres through difficult terrain,” said Garo Hills police.
“The boys are not provided proper food and sometimes they get food only once in 2-3 days. They can hardly sleep as they are on sentry duty at night so that Sohan could sleep peacefully. For small mistakes, they are beaten mercilessly,” the police added.
Sangma said most of these young cadres want to leave the outfit but could not as they are scared of Sohan. “They are waiting for an opportunity,” he added.
