Year 2006 has seen a continuation in the trend of decreasing militant violence in Meghalaya, a trend discernible since 2002. A total of 20 persons have died in the year (till September 17), including five civilians and 15 militants. Seven militants were arrested and 20 of them have surrendered till September 15, 2006.
Following are some of the militancy-related incidents in Meghalaya in 2006:
January 21: Two traders, Ramashanker Sahu and Nepal Saha, were abducted by unidentified armed militants while returning from a weekly market at Dalu in the Garo Hills district.
February 5: A businessman, P. Saha, is shot dead after being dragged out of a passenger bus coming from Tura to Baghmara and the driver is wounded by Achik National Liberation Front (ANLF) cadres at a place near Sibbari in the South Garo Hills district.
February 13: The Superintendent of Bholaganj Land Custom Station, identified as J. Das, was abucted and later killed by suspected militants. His dead body was recovered from Bholaganj along the India-Bangladesh border fencing area in the East Khasi Hills district.
May 14: A woman was abducted by the ANLF militants from Rangran in the West Khasi Hills district. The South Garo Hills district police rescued her later on May 16 following an encounter killing a cadre of the outfit. A Self-Loading Rifle with a magazine and two live ammunition shells were recovered from the encounter site.
April 26: Two senior State customs officials, Superintendent D. Bora and Inspector Mrinal Sharma, were abducted by suspected United Achik National Front (UANF) cadres from Baburambeel border area in the West Garo Hills district, and were kept hostage in Bangladesh. A day after, an extortion note demanding INR 15 million was received from militants across the India-Bangladesh border by officials of the Gasuapara Customs Land Station for release of the two abducted officials. Following the intervention of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, they were rescued and handed over by the Bangladesh Riffles to the Government of India on May 14.
May 28: Suspected UANF cadres abduct a nine-year old boy, Vaibhav Singh, from the Fancy Valley locality of Tura, headquarters of the West Garo Hills District.
May 29: A person, Hari Das, was abducted by suspected militants from Beldarpara under Tura police station in the West Garo Hills district.
June 21: Two Achik National Liberation Front cadres, identified as Amelush Momin and Arben Sangma, are shot dead in an encounter with police personnel at Nangalbibra in the South Garo Hills district.
The Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), under a cease-fire agreement with the Union Government since July 23, 2004, reportedly reiterated its demand for the formation of a separate state known as 'Garoland State' for the Garos in Meghalaya. The 'publicity secretary' of the outfit, Arist Sengsrang Sangma, said that it is high time for all Garos to come under one umbrella and demand a separate state.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister D. D. Lapang, on March 27, declared, “A Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) has been framed to monitor the cease-fire with ANVC. The next JMG meeting will be held on April 5 in Guwahati. We are thinking of adopting similar pattern as the first step to initiate dialogue with HNLC.” Accordingly, the JMG meeting was held in Guwahati where it was decided to conduct a joint survey for setting up a designated camp for the ANVC cadres in the South Garo Hills of Meghalaya by the end of April 2006. The existing camp at Jetra in the Ri Bhoi district was decided to be dismantled following complaints from paramilitary forces. The three-member ANVC delegation led by its 'general secretary' Wanding K. Marak reportedly demanded revocation of the ban imposed on it by the Union Government and initiation of a political dialogue by claiming substantial improvement in the law and order situation in Garo Hills. The request for lifting the ban was later negatively responded by Meghalaya Home Minister H. Donkupar R Lyngdoh, who said, "Let people be satisfied with their non-violence and peaceful existence… No doubt, the illegal activity of the ANVC has reduced to a great extent; but until people are satisfied, the ban should continue."
Prospects for peace with the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), however, have remained bleak in spite of efforts by the State Government and the Church. In the last week of April 2006, the HNLC chairman Julius K Dorphang requested Chief Minister D. D. Lapang to urge the Centre to expedite the peace process. However, due to reported reservations expressed by the Meghalaya Police to start a dialogue process with a beleaguered outfit, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has not responded to the offer. The outfit, earlier, had threatened to pull out of the proposed peace talks in protest against permission received by the public sector undertaking, the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd, from the State Government as well as the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council for uranium mining at Domiasiat in the West Khasi Hills district. The State Home Department said that insincerity of the 'commander-in-chief' of the HNLC is the main reason for the State Government delaying the peace process. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Lapang said that the proposal for peace talks with the HNLC is a better option than its cadres surrendering. Lapang, while expressing the State Government’s willingness to hold talks with the militant outfits, said, "But we have no say on the issues, which are totally depended on the initiative of the Union Home Ministry." He also said, "We have to patiently wait and see things to happen because whatever steps that have been followed with the ANVC, the same thing will be done with HNLC."
Earlier, year 2005 witnessed a continuation of the decline in militant violence in Meghalaya. In 2005, a total of 29 fatalities, including 26 militants, were reported from the State.
A total of 29 militants were arrested in 2005. Among them was the HNLC ‘vice-chairman’, Teilang Thangkhiew, who was arrested from Pohkseh in the capital Shillong on December 23. In addition, a total of six militants (all from the HNLC), including HNLC 'Finance Secretary' Yit Su alias Iaineh Skhem Shylla, surrendered during 2005.
The cease-fire agreement between the Union Government and ANVC was extended by six months on January 17, 2005. However, this truce extension was followed by the March 30 judgement of a tribunal recommending for the extension of the proscription on the HNLC and ANVC for another year.
Following the cease-fire agreement between the Government and ANVC and the subsequent confinement of the ANVC cadres in the designated camps, the Garo Hills in Meghalaya has been peaceful. Barring few incidents when small breakaway factions have attempted to create disorder, the Garo militancy is gradually fading. However, following the cease-fire with the ANVC, a number of outfits were formed especially in the Garo hills area to fill the vacuum left behind by the ANVC. Prominent among them are the Retrieval Indigenous Unified Front, UANF, UALF, ANLF, Hajong United Liberation Army, etc. Similarly, the Hynniewtrep National Special Red Army started operations in the Khasi Hills area. Though most of these groups have been neutralised through security force actions, activities of the UANF are still discernible. While commenting on the outfit’s plan to form an armed wing, the Meghalaya Director-General of Police, W. L. Marbaniang, said April 5, 2006, "It's a criminal gang without having any ideology." The Meghalaya Police also rejected the outfit's claim of having set up an "underground government" as "an attempt by a group of robbers to terrorise people."
Counter-insurgency operations by Meghalaya Police have marginalized the HNLC to a great extent. The outfit’s chairman Julius K Dorphang is reportedly holed up in Bangladesh and commands only a small batch of cadres. According to a statement by the State police department in August 2006, “Disillusioned women cadres of the HNLC, who are in an isolated camp in Bangladesh and are desperate to leave the outfit to join the main stream, are being prevented from deserting the militant camp. At least eight women cadres, including six from Shillong and West Khasi Hills and two from Pynursla in East Khasi Hills, have remained in Bangladesh.”
Meghalaya, which shares a 443 kilometers border with Bangladesh, has served as a traditional route for Bangladesh-based militants operating in India’s Northeast. All of Meghalaya’s districts (West Garo Hills, South Garo Hills, West Khasi Hills, East Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills), barring two, East Garo Hills and Ri Bhoi, share borders with Bangladesh. Strategic alliances between home grown militant groups such as the ANVC and the outfits operating in the neighbouring States, such as the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), compound Meghalaya’s problems. The ANVC, before it entered into a ceasefire with the Government, assisted such outfits in exploiting the ruggedness of the Garo Hills to play host to militants in transit, and to transport and store arms and explosives.
In May 2005, an explosives supply network backed by Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was unearthed in Lad Rymbai and Khliehriat areas of Jaintia Hills District. The operation came to light following the arrest of Mohammad Hasifuddin from Minkrie village under Khliehriat Police Station on May 15. Over 400 gelatine sticks were recovered from his possession. Hasifuddin had reportedly supplied explosives to ULFA to carry out the blast at Dhemaji on August 15, 2004. Ham Bahadur Thapa, a contractor in the coal mines at Khliehriat was also arrested. Police sources indicate that most of the explosives recovered during the raid had been ferried from across the Bangladesh border.
The Garo Hills have also provided significant routes for drugs and arms smuggling. Little, however, is known about the scale of infiltration of Bangladeshis into the State. According to one estimate, illegal migrants, outnumber locals in the Jaintia coal belt. It further mentioned that most of the foreign nationals entering the State from Assam have spread into the Jaintia Hills coal belt such as Lad Rymbai, Khliehriat and Bapung, while others mingled with the people in mixed populated areas of Shillong. Available data indicates that the State Government’s efforts at containing the ongoing infiltration have been handicapped by poor detection and an even poorer record of prosecutions and convictions. According to one report, out of the 14,726 foreigners detected since 2001 till March 3, 2006, only 206 have reportedly been prosecuted under the Foreigners Act, 1946. Meanwhile, Meghalaya Home Minister, H. Donkupar R. Lyngdoh, while responding to a supplementary question raised by a Congress party legislator, Robert Garnett Lyngdoh, on March 21, 2006, informed the State Legislative Assembly that 3,094 infiltrators were detained in 2001 out of which just 54 were prosecuted. In 2002, a total of 2,537 persons were detained on suspicion and 42 of them were convicted. In the 2003, the number of detentions was 2,157 and the conviction figure was 72. The detention figure in 2004 was 1,596 with just 18 convictions. Till March 2006, 1,463 persons had been detected as foreigners and 14 convicted. The Central Forces haven’t fared any better. According to a status report submitted by the Border Security Force (BSF) before the Delhi High Court on May 22, 2006, just 31 Bangladeshi nationals were deported from the State between January and April 2006.