SHILLONG: The surrender of eight GNLA cadres on Sunday was welcomed by former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma who commended the efforts of the Church and Police department in bringing the youth to the mainstream.
He went on to state that the Meghalaya Police has proven itself to be one of the finest in the country as the department has worked hard to maintain law and order and to tackle militancy in the state despite facing difficulties and challenges.
“Everybody toiled selflessly to create the much needed enabling environment for our misguided youths to shed their life of violence and return home to become an asset to their families, society, state and nation as a whole,” he added.
Speaking about the rehabilitation package for the surrendered cadres, Sangma said there was discrepancy in the package between the one offered by the Centre and the State.
“Actually the package given by the State is higher than that given by the Central government. That’s why there are so many problems with ANVC-B since they signed a tripartite text of settlement with both State and Central governments,” he added.
The remaining members of Sohan Shira’s outfit GNLA has surrendered to authorities on Sunday at Akelgre village, 8 Kms from Williamnagar, in East Garo Hills.
The eight armed militants had been with Sohan Shira during the police encounter at Bawalgre recently but managed to escape. In that encounter Sohan Shira was shot dead.
Sustained police operations compelled the remaining rebels to surrender rather than to regroup.
The eight rebels will be officially surrendering before Meghalaya Home Minister James K Sangma at Shillong on Monday afternoon.