SHILLONG, Dec 18 ? Many cadres of the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) of Meghalaya have been ?forced? to work in farms in Bangladesh to eke out a living, a surrendered militant of the outfit has said, reports PTI. Deningstar Rapsang, who was produced before journalists by the East Khasi Hills police on Friday after he laid down arms, said the militant outfit was undergoing a severe funds crunch.
?Most of the cadres are now being forced to work in betel leaf and areca nut farms in many Khasi villages located across the border in Bangladesh,? Rapsang, who surrendered with an AK-47 rifle, a pistol and some ammunition, told reporters. The crunch has led to a situation where the cadres were not being provided with money, sufficient food, clothing and proper shelter.
?I had seen enough of bloodshed in the camp. There is no mercy and forgiveness even among the cadres,? Rapsang, who witnessed the killing of four of his colleagues, recalled. Hailing from Mawlai area of Shillong, Rapsang had joined HNLC in 2000 and was trained in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. He had spent more than a year in Bangladesh since 2003, he said. The top-brass of the HNLC were also in Bangladesh, he said but their exact whereabouts were not known.
DGP?s appeal: Meghalaya Director General of Police L Sailo has asked police personnel not to tarnish the image of the force by indulging in bad habits. Speaking at a passing-out parade of new recruits at the police training school here on Friday, Sailo expressed his ?displeasure? with the personal behaviour of some cops who were indulging in bad habits like alcoholism and becoming a ?liability? for the department.
He advised the 143 recruits inducted into the police after successful training to maintain a high standard of discipline and uphold the Constitution. Sailo also thanked the police officers and their men for doing their best to help contain unlawful activities. In another passing-out parade of 45 recruit constables joining the First Meghalaya Police Battalion, Inspector General of Police M S Syiem asked them to utilise the training imparted to them.