Top rebel of outlawed Khasi militant outfit arrested

SHILLONG - A top rebel member of the outlawed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), which is demanding a sovereign Khasi homeland in eastern Meghalaya, was arrested along with two AK-47 rifles and ammunition, police said here Thursday claiming it as a major breakthrough.

Aiborlang Khartani alias Saddam Hussein, who underwent guerrilla warfare training in Bangladesh, was nabbed from Pynthorsale Village, Jaintia Hills district in eastern Meghalaya.

Police seized two AK-47 rifles, four magazines along with 90 rounds of live ammunition.

“It is a major breakthrough for the police. We got specific inputs that the HNLC is planning to disrupt Independence Day celebrations,” Director General of Police S.B. Kakati told IANS.

He said Aiborlang sneaked into India along with another HNLC cadre who had given police the slip. “Police are interrogating the militant to find out the whereabouts of his accomplices,” Kakati said.

The HNLC, which runs hit-and-run operations from its hideout in Bangladesh, has been demanding a sovereign Khasi homeland in eastern Meghalaya.

Meghalaya shares a 443 km-border with Bangladesh, part of which is porous, hilly and unfenced and prone to frequent infiltration.

The Khasi militant outfit is closely linked to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) as well as to the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland and the National Liberation Front of Tripura.

In another insurgency-related incident, another separatist rebel of the Liberation A’chik Elite Force (LAEF) surrendered along with one revolver and five rounds of .32 live ammunition in East Garo Hills district, police said.

The LAEF, which operates in the Garo Hills regions is fighting for a separate A’chik state in the western part of Meghalaya. The group maintains close links with other rebel groups in the northeast, including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the NDFB.