Leader of Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, Mukul Sangma Tuesday asked the state government whether it is following standard operating procedures to ensure that "homecoming of militants" do not "result in mushrooming or regrouping of militant outfits".
Referring to the recent surrender of the self-styled general secretary of the banned Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council(HNLC), Cheristerfield Thangkhiew who claimed to have retired from the post in the outfit, he asked whether the state government has given a direction about the parameters of surrender.
"When a member of a banned outfit is saying he is retiring and he comes without a weapon so where is the weapon and what is the way of surrendering and whether the government has given a direction that these are the parameters," the former chief minister said.
He alleged that there was a "complete lack of clarity" on the stand of the present state government with regards to how the surrender took place.
Demanding the surrender policy be made public, the LoP said, "It must be done properly and with complete transparency otherwise our experience of the past is that there would be tendency of people to take advantage of members belonging to any militant outfits to misuse which is often referred to the politico-criminal nexus."
The Leader of Opposition said "We (Congress) have maintained that cases in respect of heinous crimes shall not be withdrawn and when they surrender they should be honest in declaring and surrendering of all their arms."
On the the inter-state border dispute between Meghalaya and Assam, he called for taking all political parties in both the states on board to arrive at a lasting solution to the dispute.
He claimed that the Assam government was "sitting quiet" despite Meghalaya having submitted requisite documents to settle the boundary dispute along the inter-state borders.
People living along the inter-state boundary should not be subjected to difficulties, including dislocation and threats to their livelihood, the LoP said.
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