Exclusive
Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Mukul Sangma has raised concerns over reports of militant movement across the State, cautioning that splinter groups could be regrouping and that certain former surrenderees may be attempting to revive armed outfits in both the Garo Hills and the Khasi Hills. At a time when Meghalaya has projected relative stability after years of insurgency-related turbulence, he warned against complacency and urged the government to treat the inputs with seriousness. He also linked the issue of insurgency to employment and recruitment practices, questioning delays in filling vacancies.
“There are reports of movement of people with Arms whether it is in Garo Hills or in Khasi Hills in both,” Sangma said, indicating that the issue was not confined to any single region. He suggested that the re-emergence of such activity, if verified, could point to deeper governance and socio-economic concerns requiring urgent attention.
Clarifying his role as Leader of Opposition, Sangma said, “My job is to only flag the government with some inputs and the input has to be verified by them and therefore, I shall not do their job, but I can share my concern.” He maintained that it was for the State machinery to investigate and confirm the ground situation, but stressed that early warnings must not be ignored.
Elaborating on the inputs he has received, Sangma said, “Yes, there is a movement of people and movement of people with Arms whether it is in Garo Hills or in Khasi Hills in both. So therefore, it is something which should be taken as some inputs which the government should not take cognizance seriously and try to find out the reasons.” He underlined that even after prolonged efforts to restore normalcy, the State has witnessed reversals in the past.
“Even though we witnessed certain restoration of peace after long drawn battle to restore peace, we slip back. We have seen it in the past,” he said, recalling earlier peace initiatives. Referring to the suspension of operations agreement with the Achik National Volunteer Council, he said, “Did we not have a suspension of operation with the ANVC through that suspension of operation agreement which was entered upon as a tripartite agreement by government of India, the state government and the banned outfit ANVC. Subsequently, we expected, since it was naturally something which happened and we looked at the outcome as a positive outcome.”
He added, “So we all hope that there will be restoration of peace.” However, he questioned the durability of such arrangements, stating, “But they did happen? rather so many other different through desertion some of the members of outfit who were on suspension of operation agreement, otherwise refer to as cease fire deserted and came back with new organisations.”
Reiterating the vulnerability of the region, Sangma said, “Not just one, one, two, three four so many because North East is very very vulnerable,” attributing this partly to the easy availability of arms.
“North East we know certain that access to sophisticated arms, are available for all such militant outfits because in some parts of the North East, the availability of such Sophisticated weapons are so much that it becomes so easy, it’s like a supermarket,” he said. He added that such information was already known to authorities. “Which is known, which is an information which is available with Union government and also all the respective state governments.”
Against this backdrop, Sangma stressed the need for constant vigilance and a broader governance approach. “That ‘s the reason why we have to be always alert, vigilant and also look at the overall approach to governance to create that kind of sense of hope for the youth, create opportunities after opportunities,” he said.
He linked the security situation to employment and recruitment practices, raising questions about delays in filling vacancies. “For the youths, the job, which is available, the job for which recruitment process have been embarked upon. And look at the way while approach to filling up of vaccancies are resorted to by this government. Do they want to retain these money which is meant for the salary? Which other would have gone to the youths who have applied for the jobs and serve the state,” he said.
According to him, unaddressed grievances and perceived indifference can create fertile ground for unrest. “Therefore, little little things which creates loss of hope then resulten in frustration, then the resulted anger then, the resultant tendency to rebel,” he said.
“This is how we have in the preceding rather in the past decades being confronted by this kind of challenges. That’s why every government has to understand the huge responsibility, It is something which is considered as indispensable responsibility to understand all these small small things which act as an irritating elements which ultimately create that sense of lack of trust in the system,” Sangma added.
