‘Raids in Arunachal politically motivated’

Guwahati: In a blatant violation of the election code of conduct in the frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh, the state police force is alleged to have been carrying out raids and sea-rch at two remote villages in the intervening night of May 1 and 2 without specifying any reason in West Siang district. The Intellectual Support Group, a group of intellectuals representing five circles of West Siang district, in an memo submitted to the state DGP, said that the police broke procedures while carrying out the midnight raids at Tego Gamlin and Laggi Gamlin villages. The group represents Yomcha, Liromoba, Darak, Lower Kamba and Upper Kamba.

The group accused that at least a dozen masked policemen raided several houses at Laggi Gamlin village without identifying themselves.

As part of confidence-building measures and to maintain goodwill between villagers and the administration, normally, concerned Gaon Buras/Gaon Buris (GBs) or political interpreters (PIs) are informed in advance to rule out any sort of confrontation and to avoid law and order problem. However, all established norms and procedures were by-passed in this case, the memo reads.

Stating that village folks were unaware of the reasons behind the raids, the ISG demanded that related case and suspects, if any, be informed. It further demanded arrest and search warrant be produced as per procedure.

The ISG has also alleged politically motivated vendetta by the ruling party and presumably carried out at the behest of the BJP’s contesting candidate Nyamar Karbak as several similar raids have been carried out in Tego Gamlin and Laggi Gamlin -— the ancestral village of the National People’s Party contesting candidate Jarpum Gamlin.

“If immediate action is not taken, we will have to move the judiciary (high court) for redressal of our genuine grievances. The incident is aimed at intimidating the law-abiding citizens,” said Jarpum Gamlin, while adding that police administration should not indulge in nepotism while maintaining law and order in the area. “I have majority of the youths supporting my leadership, so it’s shocking that only two villages out of more than 55 villages were targeted,” Mr Gamlin added.