HAILAKANDI, Sept 3 - Nearly 300 Reang militants of Hailakandi district are expected to return to the mainstream of the society. The Inspector General of Police, Anurag Tankha said that the members of two Reang outfits, mainly active in Hailakandi district�s Assam-Mizoram bordering areas have expressed their wish to lay down arms for the sake of development and peace. Tankha said that they have held two rounds of discussions with the top leaders of the outfits and they agreed to lay down arms. Top police officials held elaborate discussions recently at Ramnathpur village along the Assam-Mizoram border in Hailakandi district with the members of the United Democratic Liberation Army (B) and Bru (Reang) Revolutionary Army Union.
After assumption of power by the Sarbananda Sonowal Government, the peace process was initiated by the State police and preliminary discussions were also held at Guwahati where Hailakandi SP Pranabjyoti Goswami took active part. Besides, Katlicherra MLA Sujamuddin Laskar brought the leaders of both the outfits to Guwahati and held discussions with two Cabinet ministers Rihan Daimary and Pramila Rani Brahma and got a positive response from the Government.
It can be mentioned here that more than 300 Reang activists of the United Democratic Liberation Front laid down arms in 2008 at Guwahati in front of the then Chief minister Tarun Gogoi and returned to the mainstream.
After returning from Ramnathpur, top police and civil administration officials held a closed door discussion. The meet was attended by the IGP, Anurag Tankha, DIG Akhilesh Kumar Sinha, SPs of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts, Rakesh Roushan, Gaurav Upadhyay and Pranabjyoti Goswami respectively, 30 Assam Rifles Col Siddhartha Dilip Deshmukh, Major Jackson Jose, Col Jackob, Hailakandi�s Deputy Commissioner, Krishna Gobinda Bhuiyan, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Amalendu Roy, Rajesh Chorki, Dhanyaram Reang on behalf of the outfits and social workers Pitaram Reang and Kiran Kumar Reang.
IGP Tankha said that within the next two months, the names of militants and their arms and ammunition will be listed. He said that the process of bringing them to the mainstream began last year and now it is in the final stage and there will be some terms and conditions. The date and place of surrender and package will be decided after the preparation of the list of militants and it will definitely take some time, Tankha added.
Meanwhile, the militants said in the meeting that the main criteria of surrender will be the development of Reang-dominated villages along the Assam-Mizoram border area of Hailakandi district. They informed the officials that the entire area is totally backward and the plight of people is unbearable and they want the declaration of development packages for the area.
