GUWAHATI, Feb 1 � Taking advantage of the terrain, the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) has been creating problems in the three Garo Hills districts of Meghalaya and after the arrest of its chairman in Bangladesh, the commander in chief of the outfit�Sohan D Shiria has been running the outfit.
Highly placed police source told The Assam Tribune that though Bangladesh has not yet officially confirmed the arrest of the chairman of the GNLA, intelligence inputs indicated that he is now in the custody of the neighbouring country.
Sources said that Meghalaya police personnel went very close to the camp of Sohan on January 26 in a jungle in East Garo Hills, but the militant leader could escape. Giving details of the incident, sources said that acting on a tip off, a police team went near the camp of the GNLA where its C-in-C was hiding. But the police team was caught a bit off guard when they saw a few children playing in front of the camp and a few women were also noticed.
Sources revealed that seeing the police party approaching, the GNLA militants opened fire, but the police personnel could not fire back directly at the camp immediately as there was possibility of hitting the women and children. Taking advantage of the situation, Sohan managed to escape from the place. A massive operation has been launched in the area to nab the militant leader, but so far, he managed to avoid arrest.
Police said that the GNLA was formed in 2010 after the ANVC came over ground and the cadre strength of the outfit is estimated to be around 150. Sources revealed that since its formation, the GNLA has been trying to consolidate its position in the three Garo Hills districts. Though the outfit has been demanding a separate state, sources said that the demands of the GNLA are a bit �confusing�. The outfit has been targeting innocent civilians and security forces and other forms of violent and unlawful activities including kidnapping and extortion.
The Government of India has recently declared GNLA as a �terrorist outfit� under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and police sources said that it would help in dealing with the outfit. Sources pointed out that earlier, militant outfits were banned under the provisions of the Act, but the Act was amended in 2008 and now, under the provisions of the same, an outfit is declared as a �terrorist outfit�.
Sources said that GNLA became the 36 th militant outfit of the country to be declared as �terrorist outfit� and now the police and security forces would be able to take action against all members including unarmed members of the outfit and even against the sympathizers and other working on behalf of the GNLA.
