By IANS,
Shillong : Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram will Sunday to review the security situation and the fencing of the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya, an official said Friday.
“The home minister will review the security situation in the Garo Hills region in Meghalaya and the fencing of the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya sector,” Shambhu Singh, joint secretary (Northeast) in the union home ministry, told IANS.
The border fencing has been stalled after protests from landowners and several groups under the banner of the Coordination Committee on International Border (CCIB).
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and state Hinister H.D.R. Lyngdoh, Chief Secretary W.M.S. Pariat and Director General of Police N. Ramachandran, besides union home ministry officials, will attend the meeting.
Chidambaram’s visit to Meghalaya is significant in the wake of the spurt of violence in the Garo Hills in the western part of Meghalaya unleashed by the outlawed Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) rebels.
More than 20 people, including security personnel, have been killed in the Garo Hills in the last one year by GNLA rebels. In the past two months, nine people were killed while three engineers of the government-run Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited were abducted by GNLA rebels. The engineers were later released unharmed.
The GNLA, which was declared a terrorist outfit under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, is fighting for Garoland in the three impoverished districts of Garo Hills.