Arms and ammunition seized in Meghalaya

Shillong, July 19 : Security forces Thursday arrested a gunrunner with a cache of arms meant to be delivered to the outlawed Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), a police official said.

The illegal arms and ammunition were smuggled out from Nagaland's Dimapur district via Assam, the official said.

"Acting on a tip-off, we intercepted a vehicle loaded with weapons and seized three rifles ofthe AK series, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers and rifle ammunition of different calibre from a vehicle at Chinabat area," East Garo Hills district police chief J.F.K. Marak told IANS.

Chinabat area in Meghalaya's East Garo Hills district is about 300 km west of Shillong, the state capital.

The arrested gunrunner has been identified as Beet Sangma of Dimapur, the main commercial town in Nagaland, bordering Assam's Golaghat district, Marak said.

Marak, however, said that two other gunrunners whom Sangma identified as Taklu and Kari Ao, escaped from the spot on seeing the security forces.

Security forces have launched a manhunt to nab the two absconding gunrunners.

In recent months, Assam Police have seized a huge consignment of arms and ammunition, including rocket launchers, shells and foreign-made pistols, which were brought from Dimapur via Assam to Garo Hills, meant to be delivered to the outlawed GNLA rebel outfit.

The GNLA, one of five Garo rebel groups fighting for a separate "Garoland" in western Meghalaya, is headed by police officer-turned-rogue Champion R. Sangma.

Sangma is presently lodged in Shillong jail after he was arrested from the India-Bangladesh border last year.

Arrested rebel escapes from Meghalaya hospital, two cops held

A top leader of the outlawed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) escaped Wednesday from a hospital where he was admitted and two policemen who were supposed to keep an eye on him were arrested, police said.

Phyrnai Swer, a former Meghalaya constable-turned-lieutenant of the HNLC, escaped from the North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences Wednesday morning, a police official said.

A massive manhunt has been launched to recapture the rebel.

"We have arrested armed branch constables Meytush Sangma and Sanborlang Shylla for facilitating the escape of Phyrnai Swer from the hospital," Mariahom Kharkrang, the district police chief of East Khasi Hills, told IANS.

He said the duo will be presented before a court Thursday. "We are interrogating the constables and we hope they will spill the beans," Kharkrang said.

Phyrnai was arrested Jan 24 from his wife's residence at Iawmusiang in Jowai town after he sneaked into India from Bangladesh.

Before joining the HNLC, Phyrnai was the chairman of a Meghalaya-based Retrieval Indigenous United Front outfit. He was arrested with all his other founding members.

The Khasi outfit is fighting for a sovereign Hynniewtrep homeland in the eastern part of Meghalaya.

The HNLC stages hit-and-run operations from hideouts in Bangladesh. Meghalaya shares a 443-km border with Bangladesh, part of which is porous, hilly and unfenced and thus prone to infiltration.

45 Manipur militants rejoin the mainstream

Altogether 45 tribal militants, members of the United Tribal Liberation Army (SK Thadou group), surrendered their weapons on Wednesday after signing an accord with the Union and Manipur governments.

The homecoming ceremony was held at Jiribam in Imphal east district. About 42 weapons — including AK 47, AK 56 and M-16 rifles — were recovered along with assorted guns and pistols.

The Union government was represented by Shambu Singh, Joint Secretary of the Union Home Ministry, while Suresh Babu (Principal Secretary Home Ministry) was present on behalf of the Manipur government.

This is the 19th underground organisation to rejoin the mainstream since 2008. For the time being, they will be lodged in the camp of a security force and shifted once a designated camp is constructed.

Top militant leader arrested for extortion

A top militant leader was arrested today when he came to receive extortion money from a petrol pump personnel while his accomplice managed to excape at Jiribam town here in East district, official sources said.

Self-styled general secretary of United Tribal Liberation Army (UTLA) Seinio Guite alias James Kuki (29), who had on July 13 last hurled a grenade at the petrol pump demanding payment of Rs 10 lakh, was arrested when he came to collect the money from pump personnel, they said.

Police arrested him along with a small arm, sources said adding that another UTLA man escaped.

Meanwhile, an army major (name withheld) of 22nd Assam Rifles battalion came to the police station along with some para military forces, reports from the border town said adding that the para military forces demanded immediate release of Guite on the ground that they were to surrender to Assam Rifles soon.

They also damaged partly the gate of police station, reports said but police officers of the station refused to hand over the UTLA leader since he was arrested with arm.

There was some argument between the two forces, reports said adding an FIR has been lodged with the police station against the particular army officer.

Garo rebels, security forces exchange fire in Meghalaya

A fierce gun-battle broke out between Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) rebels and security forces Sunday in Meghalaya's South Garo Hills, police said.

Two GNLA rebels were reportedly injured in the about an-hour-long exchange of fire at Agreng village, sparked off when security forces retaliated after coming under fire from hiding militants.

"The gunfight lasted for an hour and the rebels retreated back into the jungle after intensive firing from security forces," district police chief Davies R. Marak told IANS.

Marak said that at least two rebels are believed to have been injured in the attack. "The search operation is still on to trace those injured rebels," he said.

Three AK rifles magazines loaded with several rounds of live ammunition, and other several rounds of live ammunition of .22, .32 and 9 mm, one grenade and incriminating documents besides four AK rifles replicas were recovered from the site.

The GNLA, one of five Garo rebel groups fighting for a separate 'Garoland' in the western area of Meghalaya, is headed by police officer-turned-rogue Champion R. Sangma.

Sangma is presently lodged in Shillong jail after he was arrested from India-Bangladesh border last year.

The GNLA, which has over 100 rebels, including a few women cadres, operating in East Garo Hills, West Garo Hills and South Garo Hills, has been declared a terrorist outfit.

Over 40 people, including security personnel, have been killed while more than 10 people were abducted for ransom by GNLA rebels in the last three years.

NDFB prefers China over more autonomy

Kokrajhar, July 15 : The National Democratic Front of Boroland (Progressive) today chose existence as a special administrative region of China rather than accepting the Centre’s move to give more powers to autonomous councils.

Resenting the fact that Bodos and other indigenous people living within the proposed Bodoland area were yet to get full-fledged political autonomy, a press statement issued by the outfit’s publicity secretary, S. Sanjarang, said it would be better for these communities to be a part of a special administrative region in China “if the government of India has only decided to provide more powers to the existing autonomous councils of the region”.

Special administrative regions (SARs) are territories that are not part of mainland China but fall within the sovereignty of the People’s Republic. The two current SARs, Hong Kong and Macau, enjoy a high level of administrative autonomy.

Sanjarang also asked why did the Centre think only about the economic status of tribal people and not their political status? Why had it failed to identify with the legitimate demand for Bodoland? “Why is there constitutional injustice to the Bodos and other tribal people? Is it because the Bodos and other tribal people of the Northeast are of non-Indian origin? Is the political discrimination based on their Mongoloid origin?”

He said they had come across a news item about home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde telling a delegation about the Centre’s plan to give more power to autonomous councils to uplift the socio-economic status of Scheduled Tribes of the Northeast.

Sanjarang said though the past two decades saw formation of the Bodoland Autonomous Council, and its upgrade to the Bodoland Territorial Council, these were only economic solutions, as these councils never ensured total political autonomy for the Bodos. “The Bodo people’s movement was for asserting their political rights. Historically, they were independent and so they want self-rule without interference,” he added, demanding that the Centre should take a bold step and declare formation of Bodoland in the forthcoming session of Parliament.

The NDFB leader said the Bodos had always respected the national flag and the Constitution. “Since the Constitution is the guardian of each and every citizen of India, it should provide equal political status to the Bodos and other tribal people of the Northeast,” he said.

BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary, however, said the Centre had no current plans to create separate states but was, instead, planning “to give more power to Sixth Schedule councils for development of these areas, like direct funding and more economic packages”.

He said given the present scenario and policy of the Centre, Bodoland might not be possible in the immediate future, but he did not rule out the possibility of it (the state) becoming a reality one day.

Rebel leader, baby killed

Imphal, July 15 : A Kuki militant leader and his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter were killed when suspected rival Kuki rebels ambushed the vehicle in which he was travelling with his family yesterday.

Police said Marvin Kuki, self-styled home secretary of the Kuki Liberation Army, was travelling in a car with his family when members of a rival group ambushed the vehicle at Pukhao Ahallup in Imphal East yesterday afternoon.

While Marvin died on the spot, his daughter Zoukim, a five-year-old boy, Haominglun, who is a relative of the family, and his driver Thangminlen Khongsai, 24, were wounded. His wife Mansonel, 27, who was also in the car, was not injured in the attack.

Zoukim died in a hospital here early this morning.

Sources said Marvin was returning to his home at Saikul in Senapati district, about 40km from this town, after a visit to Churachandpur district and was travelling along the foothill road at Pukhao when his car was ambushed.

No outfit, however, has claimed responsibility for the attack and though central forces and the police had launched a search operation around the ambush spot yesterday, no arrests have been made yet.

The police said a rival Kuki militant group could be behind the attack and the motive could be inter-group rivalry. “We strongly believe that one of the Kuki militant groups could be behind the attack. We will discuss the matter very seriously in the next meeting of the joint monitoring group,” an official source said.

More than 20 Kuki militant groups have signed suspension of operation agreements with the Centre and the state government under two umbrella bodies — Kuki National Organisation and United Peoples Front. Kuki Liberation Army is one of signatories.

Though the cadres of these outfits stay in designated camps, the leaders are allowed to visit their homes and even stay there, official sources said.

Some of the surrendered cadres of the Kuki Liberation Army are also undergoing training by the Haflong-based 22 Sector Assam Rifles in electrical work, welding, auto repairs and computer basics.