SHILLONG, May 9: Amid rising tensions on the Kashmir frontier, former Meghalaya Home Minister and United Democratic Party (UDP) legislator Lahkmen Rymbui has urged heightened vigilance along the India-Bangladesh border, cautioning against a possible cross-border nexus behind recent militant activity.
Representing the border-sensitive Amlarem constituency in West Jaintia Hills, Rymbui praised the Centre’s decisive response to terrorism, saying, “I will congratulate the Prime Minister and the Army for a decisive action which they take in this war against terrorism because terrorism has no caste, no religion. I’m very thankful to the Army and the Government of India for taking this decisive decision that no matter what—whoever wants to disturb the peace and tranquility, moreover to take the life of innocent Indians—they have to be brought to justice, wherever they are.”
Citing a pattern of events preceding the Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir, Rymbui hinted at a broader design. “First of all, we have to recall that before what happened in Pahalgam, the Army Chief of Pakistan made a statement against the Hindus. Just after that, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan visited Bangladesh. And after that, this incident in J&K happened where innocent life was lost. So there is an interlink—I cannot rule out that there is no link at all. There is an internet link,” he said.
Pressed on whether Pakistan, Bangladesh, and China might be acting in concert, Rymbui offered a cautious assessment. “We cannot say that there are links, but if you connect the dots—from the statement of the Army Chief of Pakistan to the visit of the Foreign Minister of Pakistan to Bangladesh, and then the incident which happened in Pahalgam—you could draw some sort of conclusion that some dot is connecting.”
He urged residents and authorities in border areas to maintain heightened awareness. “It is the duty of each and every citizen to be very vigilant. The law enforcing authorities, the citizens of the border areas—more importantly the border areas—should be very vigilant so that any untoward incident could be prevented, and Meghalaya, the Northeast, and India as a whole remain secure.”
Addressing concerns over border fencing, Rymbui acknowledged ground-level challenges while calling for multi-layered security coordination. “It is not the question of only fencing, it is the question of vigilance. We have many BSF outposts, we have many police offices. More importantly, in this time of crisis, the Village Defence Party also should be activated, especially in the border areas, to see if there is any suspicious person intruding into our borders with ill intentions.”
Recognising the impact of fencing on local livelihoods, he added, “Yes, of course, some parts of the border could not be fenced due to land issues and loss of livelihood of the people. So I request that the Government of India should look into the remaining part of the unfenced border in such a way that we compensate the people so the fencing could go smoothly.”
