Conrad assures law and order normal in state

SHILLONG, March 6: Assuring that the law and order situation is by and large peaceful in Meghalaya, despite reports of re-grouping of the GNLA and the HNLC indulging in serving of demand notes to the citizens of Khasi and Jaintia Hills, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday termed these as sporadic incidents.
According to the CM, the incidents occur due to a complex society and many different complications that come with it.
“What is important is to be able to maintain the overall balance and to maintain the overall law and order situation,” Sangma said.
Talking about the regrouping of the GNLA, he said that three people have been arrested and the police are on the job to nab the remaining involved. The CM said that they are confident that they will be able to nab the others.
In the past few years, despite many challenges, the government has been able to maintain the law and order situation to a large extent, CM said.
Asked for his comment on the extortion by the HNLC,  he said that the government is very clear that no illegal activity of this form will be tolerated.
Sangma said that when this had come up they had a prompt meeting a few weeks back. During a closed door meeting, the police was instructed to thwart these activities, he said.
“Based on this, the police have done their duties and moving forward you will see that the extortion cases which were there in the past are decreasing. Of course, much more work needs to be done,” he said.
The CM said the government intends to put a complete stop on such crimes.
“We have made it very clear to the HNLC in multiple discussions that if they are serious about the talks, then all other untoward activities should stop,” he said.