SHILLONG, May 3 – Night curfew has been clamped within five-km range of the entire international border that Meghalaya shares with Bangladesh to pre-empt movement of arms and ultras. This was done following intelligence reports of an impending danger along the porous 425-km stretch of border that the State shares with the neighbouring country.
Earlier, curfew had been imposed along the stretch of border in the East Khasi Hills district only in the wake of reports of arms being ferried into India from Bangladesh. “Informations were received that arms are being smuggled into India from Bangladesh across the border of East Khasi Hills by some persons or group of persons,” an official statement had said without naming any militant organisation in this regard.
It may be recalled that recently the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) had seized a huge consignment of arms meant for North East militants at Chittagong in that country. Director General of Police L. Sailo confirmed that the Border Security Force (BSF) had intensified vigilance along the Indo-Bangla border and suggested imposition of ‘night curfew’ all along the border.
Meanwhile, the sudden spurt of militant activities in the Borsora coal belt in the West Khasi Hills district of the State which led to abduction and burning of trucks on Thursday has taken the State Police by surprise. Talking to reporters, the State Police chief indicated that the Thursday’s incident was the handiwork of a gang of criminals, operating in Borsora in tandem with some of the detached cadres of the banned Garo outfit A’chik National Volunteers’ Council (ANVC) and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Issac-Muivah). He also informed that a small group of ANVC activists along with about seven NSCN cadres is camping in that area and the latest incident was to “make their presence felt.”
Dwelling on the constraints faced by the police to extradite the militants from the border areas, Sailo said the inaccessible terrain and small hamlets along vast dense forest provide adequate cover for the militants to move across the border to Bangladesh at will. The BSF had sealed parts of the border on the eve of the April 20 Lok Sabha polls to prevent any cross-border movement of arms and terrorists, especially in the insurgency-ravaged Garo Hills districts.