Insurgency / Meghalaya

Somewhere in the Garo Hills, Dec. 10: The banned Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC) wants former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A. Sangma as a facilitator in its peace talks with Delhi. In a recent exclusive interview to The Telegraph, ANVC general secretary Wanding Marak said the outfit had ?resolved to include Sangma in the peace talks?.

The ANVC, which talked of peace after a hiatus in the negotiation process following the killing of eight of its cadres by Meghalaya police, has been demanding a separate Garo state.

However, Garo leader Purno A. Sangma believes a separate state for the...

SHILLONG, June 15?Former Meghalaya Minister K C Boro was kidnapped by suspected NDFB ultras from Lakhipur in Goalpara district in Assam last night along with his wife. According to police sources here, Boro was going to Tikrikilla, in Garo Hills when he, his wife and driver of the vehicle were kidnapped. The former minister, however, reached Tikrikilla safely around 6 am today. His driver is also understood to have been released. But the former minister?s wife is still under custody of the suspected militants giving rise to speculations that Boro has been released to raise the extortion demand...

Shillong, June 13: Meghalaya police today said former minister Adolph Lu Hitler Marak would be arrested on the charge of ?harbouring militants?.

Marak, a minister in the previous E.K. Mawlong government, had been on the police watchlist for several years, a senior police officer said. The police had recently arrested two Achik National Volunteers Council members and another resident of Mizoram travelling in a government pool car, which had been allotted to Marak when he was minister.

The police official today said the former minister has made several contradictory statements which have given...

SHILLONG, June 13? Chief Minister D D Lapang Thursday said that his Congress-led coalition Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government would invoke the provisions of POTA if necessary to deter unauthorised liaisoning by politicians with banned militant groups in the State, reports PTI.

Stating that his government was aware of a nexus between politicians and militants, Lapang told a press conference after a Cabinet meeting that politicians in the State who liasioned with ultras without specific authorisation were liable to be prosecuted.

?The police are investigating these activities and...

Shillong, June 10: Police in Meghalaya are homing in on a nexus between state employees and the banned Hynniewtrep Nationalist Liberation Council. An ensuing probe could result in several heads rolling.

Over 20 government officials in Meghalaya have come under the police?s scanner for allegedly providing ?accounts-related information? of government departments to the outfit.

The Meghalaya home department is contemplating ?serious action? against some high-ranking officials of the PHE department for passing ?vital information? about the department?s activities to the rebel outfit. State home...

Dawki, June 8: The Border Security Force (BSF) has warned of another Pyrdiwah-like crisis along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya if patrolling continues to be hampered by the poor condition of roads in the area.

BSF officials admitted that the skirmish with Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) troops at Pyrdiwah two years ago did not take place only because roads and bridges were in bad shape. However, poor road connectivity did contribute to the border crisis, they said.

Bangladesh troops captured a BSF post in Pyrdiwah on May 15, 2001, causing a standoff on the border.

It led to an even bigger...

TURA, May 30?Financial institutions such as the State Bank of India (SBI) are slowly closing their branches in the interior areas of Garo Hills because of continuous militant threats for failing to pay up to the ultras, State Bank of India, which has the largest network of banking services in the Garo Hills extending way into the interior areas, has already closed down its third branch in the region. The SBI has a total of 44 branches in the entire Garo Hills though 24 are loss making in terms of profit making for the institution.

The first branch to be closed down due to militant threats was...

TURA, May 28 ? In a gruesome incident, suspected Garo militants belonging to the banned A?chik National Volunteers Council (ANVC) executed a village headman and another villager in East Garo Hills on Monday night. In yet another incident, a hardcore ULFA militant surrendered before Tura police in West Garo Hills. A group of heavily armed ANVC militants went to the house of Malindro M Marak, the Lasker (Headman) of Raja-A?pal village, near Bajengdoba, shortly after 10 pm on Monday. They took him out of the house and fired a single shot into his head killing him on the spot. Similarly another...

SHILLONG, May 21 ? Meghalaya government today rejected NCP general secretary PA Sangma?s claim of being a facilitator of talks between the Centre and insurgents, saying that the Centre did not authorise anyone to facilitate talks, between some insurgent groups of the state and New Delhi, reports PTI.

?We have received a letter from Union Home Secretary N Gopalswamy saying the government of India has authorised nobody to negotiate with militants of Meghalaya,? state?s home minister R G Lyngdoh told a press conference here.

Sangma, a Lok Sabha member from Meghalaya?s Garo Hills region and...

SHILLONG, May 20 ? NCP General Secretary P A Sangma today said he was working as a ?facilitator? of talks between the Centre and some insurgent groups of Meghalaya with the knowledge of the Union Government, reports PTI. ??I am doing my bit as a facilitator to bring some insurgent groups for a dialogue with the Centre and I reiterate that I am doing it with the knowledge of the Government of India??, Sangma, a Lok Sabha member from Meghalaya, told reporters here without naming the militant outfits. He said if any politician took any initiative to bring insurgent groups to the negotiating table...