The Civil society in Garo hills appeal for peace, call upon militant to shunt violence

Tura, Jan 23: : The Civil bodies from Garo hills will gather  in Tura in the comming Saturday to make a clarion call for peace. The agenda for the ‘Peace Summit’ is to make an appeal to all militant outfits in Garo hills  to shun violence and come forward.

United civil bodies in Garo hills are set to adopt a resolution to urge outfits to ensure peace for progress and development. They are likely to pledge a declaration to request outfits to eschew peace. The church members and pressure groups from Tikrikilla, Baghmara, Dainadubi, Phulbari and Ampati have confirmed their participation.

The organisers have appealed people to take part in the ‘Peace Summit’, which will be held at District Auditorium, Tura.

An activist from Phulbari said, “Peace is the need of the hour and the people have to come forward to support it. If the people of the region do not come forward, neither the government nor the police will be able to control the growth threat of insurgency”.

Jimrich M Marak, from Kharkutta said, “We have had enough of violence and bloodshed. It is time to act, to stop the menace. The growing insurgency has come as a stumbling block for development. We have to ensure that militancy is wipe out for once and all”. He added, “We appeal to the Government to take definite steps to ensure this phenomenon is not repetitive or the whole peace process would be a non-starter”.

Another activist from A’chik Mothers Association said, “The government is to be blamed for the mess. It is time to do something concrete to ensure that the misguided youths do not take up arms anymore”.

Terming government’s effort to bring all outfits under the ambit of A’chik National Volunteers Council (ANVC), she said, “ANVC should attempt to ensure that all outfits come under their banner to ink peace settlement. Otherwise, the whole exercise will be futile”.

Jaynie Sangma, brainchild for the summit said, “We hope people will come forward for the cause of peace. We hope that the militant groups listen to our earnest appeal”.(SP News)