Police focus on Garo Hills outfits

FROM OUR STAFF CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, Aug 27: Meghalaya police anti-insurgency operation is now focusing in neutralizing the militant outfits in Garo Hills rather than talking about the peace overtures of the HNLC. A well placed source in the State Police hierarchy told The Sentinel that the proscribed Khasi militant out is a spent force and a ‘Facebook’ terror.

“We know the actualities of the HNLC strength: it’s utmost desperation for the peace talks can be easily transcript by any layman,” stated the source, even as he added that counter insurgency operations and strategic moves is on five turbulent districts of Garo hills-an area where the GNLA and its splinter groups tends to raise its ugly head every now and then.

“Khasi-jaintia Hills is no more our focal area because the HNLC has lost its entire sting,” stated the source who monitored the operations against the proscribed Khasi outfit right from the late nineties. The source said, “We dub the outfit as a spent force and an irrelevant organisation since we know the actualities,” though he stop short from commenting on the repeated peace forays of the HNLC in the past one year.

State Director General of Police (DGP) Rajeev Mehta told The Sentinel, “Peace talks are the prerogative of the political leadership but we are on the job to take on any assignment to il the armed militant groups and any band of crimils.” The DGP conceded that the HNLC is an outfit with little presence in the State, saying, it is an outfit with limited members who are working in arecanut and bettle leafs plantation business in Bangladesh.

The DGP also said that the focus is in Garo hills where the alleged armed crimil thugs are using all mes and methods to abduct people for extortions.