Shillong: Affirming his commitment to restore peace in the Garo Hills region, Inspector General of Meghalaya Police (Western Range) GHP Raju on Saturday said operations in the region will continue.
On the release of abducted Block Development Officer P
K Boro, who was received by a woman journalist after being
released unharmed by Garo Hills Liberation Army (GNLA) in the
thick jungles of Garo Hills along the Indo-Bangladesh border
earlier in the day, Raju said there was need to change the
strategy of the forces.
While observing that Boro's release was welcomed by
one and all, Raju said, "operations in Garo Hills will
continue."
"I will not rest until peace is restored in the entire
Garo Hills region," Raju, one of the police officers
responsible for bringing normalcy in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills
from the clutches of the once-dreaded Hynniewtrep National
Liberation Council (HNLC) outfit in the early 2000s, said.
Boro, the BDO of Dadanggre was abducted from his
office on November 21 and released safely and received by Alva
B Sangma, editor of a local vernacular weekly at 9 am.
Apart from Meghalaya's Special Weapons and Tactics
(SWAT) commandos, two companies of CrPF's Combat Battalion for
Resolute Action (COBRA) commandos besides five additional BSF
companies have been put in to check the growing activities of
the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA).
GNLA has been considered the most active militant group
blamed for rampant extortion in the Garo hills belt.
The outfit, which is demanding a separate state, had
carried out a number of kidnappings over the last years and
slapped extortion demands on traders and government officials,
besides killing policemen and labourers.
The Garo rebel group was floated by a police deserter,
former Dy SP, Champion Sangma two years back.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, December 24, 2011, 22:54