TURA, March 23 � Angered over the brutal killing of a village court judge by ULFA militants in the East Garo Hills district, Meghalaya police have launched an all out operation to flush them out. The operation has been extended to all three districts of Garo Hills with the CRPF along with army units assisting the Meghalaya police.
A heavily armed group of ULFA militants barged into Rongrong Apal village on the night of March 14 and dragged out 65 year old Tomen Marak from his house and shot him dead in front of his family and other villagers. The militants accused the village elder of being a police informer.
The incident has created fear as well as anger among villagers against the ULFA. All along the ULFA has been using Garo Hills to move weapons and bring in cadres from neighbouring Bangladesh to Assam but rarely targetted local villagers. The thick forest cover in East and South Garo Hills provided a haven for the militants who used it to escape flush out operations by security forces in Assam.
Police are concerned over the latest incident in which the ULFA has daringly murdered an elderly villager who happened to be a respected judge of the village court. Evidently, the outfit is worried its area of influence in Garo Hills is dwindling and the only way to continue having a foothold was to terrorise the villagers through the barrel of a gun.
The entire Bajengdoba-Resubelpara-Mendipather stretch has of late been infested by ULFA militants who are crossing over from Tikrikilla area and moving deep through the vast forested area to escape from security forces in Assam.
The problem being faced by Meghalaya police is that of the difficult terrain. To make matters worse, ULFA does not set up any permanent camp in the Garo Hills preferring to move from one safe area to another on a daily basis. This makes it very hard for the security forces who primarily depend on hard intelligence. �These militants hardly stay a day in one location. They do not sleep in villages but only go and demand food. They are known to sometimes sleep in cemeteries and on tree houses that are located in many of the jhum cultivated fields,� informed one police source.
With support from the army units based near Bajengdoba, the CRPF and special operations teams of the State police the security forces are optimistic they will make some headway against the Assam- based militant outfit.
