Meghalaya Assessment - 2014

On January 27, 2014, Meghalaya got central clearance to form its own special multi-task Police Force, christened ‘Special Force 10’, to deal with internal security challenges ranging from militancy to disaster management. The sanctioned strength of the Force is 1,795, including support staff. One company of the Force will be fully reserved for women. Justifying the creation of the State's own 'special Force', Chief Minister Mukul Sangma stated that, in the past, the State Government had to "run from pillar to post" to convince the Centre to deploy paramilitary Forces in the State during adverse situations. The State's Home Minister, Roshan Warjri, added that ‘Special Force 10’ would not only be tasked with counter insurgency operations, but would also be deployed to tackle riots, communal disharmony and various agitations.

During 2013, Meghalaya witnessed several agitations relating to demands from statehood to Inner Line Permit (ILP), as well as significant insurgency-related activity. It is in this context that the multi-task ‘Special Force 10’ assumes significance. 2013 also saw the formation of new Garo militant outfits: the United Achik Liberation Army (UALA); A’chik Matgrik Liberation Front (AMLF) formed in September; Achik National Liberation Army (ANLA) formed in October; Achik Tiger Force (ATF-formed by some cadres of the Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), formed in November; the Achik National Liberation Central Army (ANLCA), also formed in November; as well as the Garo National Liberation Army-Faction (GNLA-F) and Achik Youth Liberation Front (AYLF), both formed in December. With the formation of ATF, ANVC has already seen two splits in recent years, the first one coming with the discovery of ANVC-B in March 2012. The UALA then split from ANVC-B in February 2013.  The ANVC had also faced embarrassment when Sohan D. Shira, the then leader of ANVC, formed the GNLA towards the end of 2009, after he had surrendered as a member of ANVC in 2007. The GNLA has also now suffered a major jolt with formation of GNLA-F under the leadership of Reading T. Sangma, GNLA's former ‘finance secretary’. The AMLF, ANLA, ANLCA and AYLF are reportedly new outfits. With this proliferation of insurgent factions, the security situation in the State, and particularly of the Garo Hills, deteriorated.

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database, insurgency related fatalities increased during the year, from 48 in 2012, to 60 in 2013. After dramatic declines between 2004 and 2008, there has been a continuous year on year increase in fatalities in the State.

Insurgent violence had declined after the signing of a ceasefire agreement with ANVC on July 23, 2004, but resurfaced again with the formation of GNLA, followed by the emergence of various new and splinter groups. The GNLA continues to be responsible for the largest proportion of violent activities in the State.

Worryingly, Security Force (SF) fatalities have spiked from just two in 2012 to nine in 2013. On November 5, 2013, the Garo Hills Police suffered one of its biggest casualties in its fight against militancy, with five State security personnel killed in an ambush laid by a heavily armed group of GNLA cadres at the remote Kolapara village in Baghmara, the District headquarters of South Garo Hills.

2013 recorded a total of six major incidents (each resulting in 3 or more fatalities) in which 22 persons were killed [9 militants, 5 SF personnel and 8 civilians]. In the most recent of these incidents, in the morning of November 28, three UALA militants were shot dead and another was captured alive after Williamnagar Police attacked their camp at Chiokgre village in East Garo Hills District. One of the militant leaders who masterminded the November 3, 2013, attack on a Rabha village in Goalpara (Assam) during Diwali celebrations, resulting in the death of seven villagers, was killed in the encounter. In a major attack on civilians in the year, the GNLA attacked a village in the Garobadha region, 32 kilometres from Tura in the West Garo Hills District, shooting dead three persons, including a youth and two women, in the night of September 16, 2013. 

The year recorded 39 incidents of killing, resulting in 60 fatalities. Of 28 civilian killings, 17 involved GNLA, seven were executed by UALA, one by ANVC-B and 3 fatalities remained unattributed. Of the nine SF personnel killed, ANVC-B was responsible for four, and GNLA for five. The 23 militants killed included 11 GNLA, six ANVC, three UALA, one ATF, one United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and one unspecified.

The State recorded 26 encounters between militants and SFs in 2013, resulting in 18 fatalities [seven SF personnel and 11 militants]. Of these, GNLA was involved in 22 incidents; ANVC-B in two incidents; and AMLF and UALA in one incident each. 2012 had witnessed 17 encounters.

There were at least 17 incidents of abduction in 2013, with 36 persons abducted (a significant proportion of such incidents go unreported). Of these, 26 persons were abducted by GNLA; one by GNLA-F; one by the National democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB); while the remaining were unspecified. In one incident, the ‘area commander’ of GNLA in Songsak abducted as many as 15 secretaries of the Village Employment Council dealing with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). They were released after paying INR 10,000 each from the MGNREGA funds. There were 21 recorded incidents of abduction, resulting in 39 abductions, in 2012.

17 incidents of extortion were also recorded in 2013, as against 20 such incidents in 2012 (again, a large proportion of such incidents go unreported). Of the reported incidents, 10 involved GNLA; ANVC-B and UALA were responsible for two each; NDFB and ANLCA, one each; while one incident was unattributed. A November 13, 2013, report noted that coal traders in Borsora and Nongjri areas in South West Khasi Hills District were concerned about the activities of militants from the Garo Hills and Assam, with these groups demanding sums ranging from INR 500,000 to INR two million from each trader.

64 militants were arrested through 2013: 40 GNLA, three Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), nine ANVC-B, three UALA, four AYLF, two AMLF and three NDFB. 99 militants had been arrested in 2012. Further, nine militants surrendered in 8 incidents in 2013; three GNLA cadres, four UALA, one ANVC-B and one HNLC.

Talks with the militant formations have not been very encouraging. On December 20, 2013, at the group's 19th Raising Day celebration at Ballonggre near Tura, ANVC ‘chairman’ Dilash Marak alias Susime Marak, expressed his disappointment over the delay of the final settlement between the Centre, State and the outfit. Expressing concern and disappointment, Marak declared that, though the Centre, State and ANVC had signed an agreement in early January 2013, a final settlement was yet to be reached. On January 5, 2013, the Union and Meghalaya State Government had signed a draft agreement with both ANVC and ANVC-B, for the enhancement of the powers of the existing Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC). Reports also stated that, with dwindling resources to maintain camps and feed cadres, ANVC-B had entered the coal business for survival. Doang D. Shira, ‘publicity secretary’ ANVC-B stated, “Hundreds of cadres are at various camps with no proper food and clothing, waiting for the final solution which is being delayed and making it tough for us each passing day.” The peace pact with the two outfits now awaits the all-important Cabinet approval. Shambu Singh, Joint Secretary in charge of the North-East in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs observed, on February 5, 2014, “The matter has gone to the Cabinet and we cannot make any comment now since the Cabinet will take up the matter shortly.”

Significantly, after displaying apparent disinterest in talks with GNLA, a January 28, 2014, report claimed that the State Government had created a channel to bring GNLA to the negotiating table. While Governor K.K. Paul announced, during his Republic Day speech on January 26, that the Government had offered the path of dialogue to GNLA: “The Government has offered the path of dialogue to GNLA. I urge the leadership of GNLA to consider this seriously. It is the most opportune time to restore peace and normalcy in the Garo Hills, which the people of the region are entitled to. Violence only results in all-round misery.” On January 27, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma went further, declaring that an exercise was on to bring the outfit to the negotiating table.

The flow of ‘outsiders’ into the State has also been a long term issue. 2013 saw an intensive three month long agitation for the implementation of ILP regulations, resulting in three deaths, several arrests and enormous loss of property. A December 2013 report stated that over 71 pro-ILP activists were arrested in connection with 86 cases related to arson, murder and other charges, during the three-month agitation in Meghalaya. The estimated loss due to damage inflicted during the agitation was over INR 500 million, with over INR 210 million lost in the destruction of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) stockyard alone. On October 6, 2013, an unprotected BSNL store room-cum-warehouse at Mawlai Mawiong in East Khasi Hills District was set ablaze.

Report indicates that the Border Security Force (BSF), in 2013, arrested as many as 99 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from the Meghalaya Frontier. In addition, the BSF arrested fifty six arms smugglers, forty of whom were from Bangladesh, while the rest were Indian. According to official statistics cited in the media, over the preceding five years (2008 to September 2013), 18,951 Bangladeshis were “detected” in the State; 978 were “prosecuted” and the remaining 17,973 were “pushed back”. From 2008 to 2011, the figures ranged between 1,500 and 3,200 per year. In 2012, however, detection of illegal Bangladeshi migrants shot up to 6,182, and till September 2013, another 3,163 were identified.

The year also saw agitations for a renewed Garoland demand, which has periodically been raised since 1974. The latest agitation was  led by the the Garo Hills State Movement Committee (GHSMC) following the resolution of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), on July 30, 2013, to sanction statehood to Telengana by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh. GHSMC general secretary Augustine Marak asserted that the Government should consider creation of Garoland based on the linguistic criteria of the States Reorganisation Act (SRA), 1956.

Even as the GHSMC threatened to intensify its stir for a separate Garoland, the Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP), on August 13, 2013, renewed its demand for creating a separate Khasi-Jaintia State, arguing that this had been a long-pending demand of the party, HSPDP general secretary Enbin K. Raswai stated that the Centre should consider the creation of separate Garo and Khasi-Jaintia States in Meghalaya based on linguistic lines as envisaged in the SRA, 1956. The UALA, purportedly formed to fight for the rights of the Garos in Assam, also declared its support for a ‘Garoland’ State in November. The outfit is reported to have links with GNLA, which is also fighting for a ‘Garoland’ State, to include the Goalpara and Kamrup Districts of Assam, in addition to the Garo Hills of Meghalaya.

Meanwhile, concerned over the spurt in militant activities in the Garo Hills, National People's Party (NPP) leader Purno A. Sangma, alleged in December, that the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) Government was colluding with various militant groups in the region: “It is very clear from the current law and order situation in Garo Hills that there is a nexus between insurgents and the Government.” Chief Minister Mukul Sangma had earlier asserted that a nexus between some politicians and rebel outfits operating in the State could not be ruled out, though he insisted that such a nexus was not confined to any one political party.

In what appeared to be a positive development, a meeting of citizens from all the Districts of the Garo Hills, including non-Government organisations (NGOs) working in the region, was held on January 25, 2014, to initiate a ‘Unified Peace Movement for Garo Hills’. A February 6, 2014, report further observed that the Unified Movement was preparing a “Peace Pact” that would be revealed to the public within two months.

In December 2013, Inspector General of Police, Administration and Operations, G.H.P. Raju, while dismissing the idea of involving the Army in counter insurgency operations in the Garo Hills, asserted that, with the help of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and with the support of the Central Government, the State Police would win the war against militants operating in Garo Hills. Meghalaya’s present situation, however, gives much cause for concern, and the deteriorating law and order situation needs to be addressed urgently. Fast tracking the raising and deployment of the ‘Special Force 10′ is only one among the wide range of initiatives that are necessary to meet the renewed challenge in the State.