TURA: The banned GNLA’s attempt to regroup and consolidate its position in Garo Hills has suffered yet another blow with its senior commander and third in the hierarchy of the outfit surrendering at Chokpot in South Garo Hills on Monday.
Baltush N Marak, the area commander of the GNLA in the coal-belt of Nangalbibra in South Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills, and GNLA chief Sohan D. Shira belong to the same village of Chachatgre across the Simsang in Williamnagar. They are old friends.
Marak, who was inducted into the rebel outfit in 2010 by Sohan, surrendered without any firearms. He was the chief’s bodyguard for a long time before taking up other responsibilities.
Marak was put in charge of the coal-belt after a spate of surrenders of top GNLA commanders in the beginning of the year.
He was also tasked with leading an execution squad to eliminate senior GNLA leaders who had surrendered in the last six months.
However, the Meghalaya police’s sustained counter-insurgency operations and a recent encounter in which Marak had a narrow escape appeared to have pushed the senior commander to join the mainstream.
The GNLA cadres had separated in groups during the recent encounter but were unable to regroup. This compelled Marak to head to Chokpot from where he reached out to church leaders indicating his willingness to leave the outfit.
He came out from the forests around 11 am and was taken to Baghmara, the district headquarters, where he surrendered before district police chief Abraham T Sangma.
