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In what became the
biggest militant strikes in the history of Meghalaya, the banned HNLC (Hynniewtrep
National Liberation Council) militants virtually took control of Shillong for
about two hours on Aug. 15. The HNLC, together with the Khasi Students Union had
called a 36-hour bandh to protest the Independence Day celebrations.
The HNLC ambushed
four CRPF outposts in Shillong, the capital of Meghalya, on the evening of Aug.
15, apart from a series of attack in major parts of the city. They first
attacked the CRPF camp at Polo at 8.30 at night. They rained bullets on the 53rd
battalion of the CRPF, engaging them in a gun-battle which continued for more
than half an hour. They used not only automatic weapons but also heavy guns.
The HNLC guerrillas
were positioned in small pockets throughout the city waiting for a signal from
their leader. A tracer bullet was fired from Mawprem area just before the CRPF
camp came under heavy firing. The bullet was shot for sending a message to the
cadres who were waiting for a strike. Simultaneous gun attacks began all over
the city, like at the Mawprem area, Mawlai-Nongkwar, Mawlai Nonglum, Lackumeire,
along G.S. Road, Laban, near the Governor’s House, etc.
For nearly two hours
the city resembled a battlefield. The militants used sophisticated weapons,
including hand grenades.
Earlier the KSU
unleashed a series of anti-Government assaults in Shillong on Aug 13, including
an attack on the Chief minister’s private house at lower Mawprem and torched 16
vehicles including those of three Ministers during the bandh call given by the
student’s organisation. The string of incidents occurred in different parts of
the city in retaliation against the police crackdown on KSU leaders who had
given the call for bandh. The organising secretary of the KSU was arrested under
the draconian MPDA.
Several vehicles
belonging to Ministers and Government officials were burnt, including those of
the ministers of Animal Husbandry, Mining and Housing. The KSU declared that it
would go ahead with its agitational programmes and said that the recent
incidents are consequences of unfulfilled promises made by political leaders
from time to time. Instead of solving the core issues of the union the
government, by arresting the organising secretary, is adding to the raging fire.
Panic-stricken, the
annual meeting of Chief Ministers of the North-Eastern Council, to be held in
Shillong, was called off.
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