GNLA dangles salary bait for Meghalaya cops

Outfit declares pay of Rs 20000 for constables & Rs 50000 for sub-inspectors with monthly increments
ANDREW W. LYNGDOH

Andreas Ch. Momin surrenders before East Garo Hills superintendent of police Jerry F.K. Marak on Saturday. Telegraph picture
Shillong, Aug. 21: Guns are passé. A Meghalaya outfit has decided to take on the police force not with weapons but with baits of hefty salary for those willing to give up their khaki uniforms and join the guerrilla force.
“We will offer Rs 20,000 per month to constables willing to join us. The monthly remuneration for sub-inspectors will be Rs 50,000. Moreover, there will be monthly increments,” said Kakam D. Shira, a representative of the Garo National Liberation Army and aide of commander-in-chief Sohan D. Shira.
Kakam was responding to a police statement that the outfit was paying Rs 10,000-15,000 to its cadres.
This open challenge to the police is interesting since the outfit was formed by former deputy superintendent of police, Champion R. Sangma.
The bait also seems to be carefully timed — the outfit has been facing the heat of ongoing combing operations launched by commandos of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) of the state police in collaboration with commandos of the elite Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and BSF personnel.
On August 9, a SWAT team gunned down four GNLA militants near Williamnagar in East Garo Hills. Among the dead were the outfit’s deputy commander-in-chief and area commander of the central command, Roster Marak.
Roster was also a former policeman of the 1st Meghalaya Police Battalion, Mawlai Mawiong.
The GNLA has also reacted strongly to the “quit” notice issued by the Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), currently under ceasefire, to Ulfa and NDFB.
The ANVC, through its spokesperson, Torik Jangning Marak, has given 20 days to these rebel outfits to quit Garo hills.
“We (Ulfa, NDFB, ANVC, and GNLA) are all organisations with the same goal; fighting for the cause of the people and indeed we help each other,” Kakam said.
“For many years, Ulfa members walked around the soil of Garo hills but have never used the laws of their land here,” he said.
“Who is Torik Jangning Marak to give such quit notices? He cannot even chase away the non-Garos coming from Bangladesh and illegally living in Garo hills.”
“According to the Constitution, Ulfa and NDFB can stay anywhere within the Indian territory. Till now, their citizenship has not been disowned by the government of India,” Kakam said.
He also alleged that ANVC chairman Dilash Marak has Bangladeshi citizenship under the name of Stephen. “Dilash Marak has a Bangladeshi passport under the name of Stephen, and in India, his name is Benjamin,” Kakam added.
The GNLA representative said Torik’s irresponsible statement could lead to a communal clash.