By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: ICARE was amongst the organisations that met Home Minister P Chidambaram, on Sunday. ICARE president Toki Blah said the organisation was concerned about militancy in Garo Hills spinning out of control.
In an upfront discussion with Chidambaram, ICARE members said that it was high time the Centre took a tough call on the gun-toting militants without an ideology but only out to loot, murder and extort.
Their objective is to make money through terror tactics, ICARE pointed out.
Blah pointed to the spate of selected kidnappings on ethnic lines which are deliberately aimed at causing communal tension within a peaceful tribal environment, adding that tougher measures on a war footing are called to curb such terrorist activities.
Blah also suggested the need to rethink the present policy of how to deal with militants and terrorists. “Molly-coddling terrorists or people who perpetuate terror, in the name of peace talks might send out wrong socio-political signals. It will result in a never ending cycle of the surrender of one militant group to be replaced by another. The Rule of Law must be equally applied to all,” Blah stated.
ICARE also drew the attention of the Union Home minister to the contentious border dispute between Meghalaya and Assam and said there is a case for the Centre to act as interlocutor.
“The role of the Centre as a honest broker to the whole dispute is called for. The need of the hour is for New Delhi to play its rightful role to bring about peaceful co existence between the people of Assam and Meghalaya,” the organisation said.
Pointing to the Look East Policy as the key factor for speeding up economic development of the region, Blah said the N-E region, Bhutan and Nepal etc., need transit facilities to the sea through Bangladesh. This should be taken up with the urgency it deserves, he said.
