TURA, May 5 - In a huge setback to militancy and a huge fillip to the ushering of peace in Garo Hills, 14 cadres of the banned Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) along with two cadres of United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA)-Independent surrendered last evening at the police headquarters in Shillong.
The surrender of the 16 is one of the biggest in the history of the State and expected to go a long way in ushering in peace. Amongst the surrenderees was the GNLA area commander of North Garo Hills, Rakban D Shira (Philiport), two deputy commanders as well as former publicity secretary of the outfit, Anurag S Sangma. The surrender has come as a body blow to the outfit given the proximity of the NGH area commander to the outfit�s commander in chief, Sohan D Shira.
The cadres stated that they were unhappy with the leadership as there was literally no communication from Sohan over the past seven months. �We were disillusioned with the chief as he hardly made any contact with us. We also wanted to come back to the mainstream and lead a normal life.
We want to do away with violence in our lives,� said Anurag, who was the spokesperson of the surrendered cadres. The surrender was made possible due to the efforts of their families and members of the Church along with local MLAs who ensured the group came over.
The outfit members, who were holed up close to Thapa Agitchagre, began their move after members of the Church and family assisted them to get to Resubelpara where arms and ammunition collection was done by the North Garo Hills police yesterday.
The 16 were immediately escorted along with arms and ammunition from Resubelpara to the capital, Shillong where a formal surrender ceremony was held. The cadres surrendered in the presence of Home Minister Roshan Warjri and DGP Rajiv Mehta. The DGP thanked the NGOs, Church and family members for the initiative which he believed would usher in peace and development in the region.
The surrendered cadres, who were suspects in the killing of a policeman, today denied their role in the killing.
Meanwhile, Operation Hillstorm - 3 is set to continue, according to a police press release with SWAT teams being boosted by the newly trained SF-10 commandos.
The surrendered cadres surrendered a huge cache of arms and ammunition including 4 AKs, 1 INSAS, 1carbine, 6 pistols, grenade, 4 handsets, 5 ID cards and SIM cards.
