Shillong, Dec 30: On Thursday, a member of the banned militant outfit Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), Junel Tongper @ June surrendered before Inderjit Singh Rana, IG BSF Meghalaya Frontier at Umkiang border outpost, East Jaintia Hills district.
According to the BSF, the surrendered cadre was deployed as an area commander in East Janitia Hills, Meghalaya and he belongs to Lumphyllut village under Umkiang poloce station.
Tongper joined the outfit in the year 2010 and after training, he was actively working for the outfit.
He was apprehended by Meghalaya police in 2015, but later released on bail and absconded.
Tongper re-joined the outfit in November 2020 and was based at Panaipunjee under Kulaura police station of Moulvibazar district in Bangladesh.
The surrendered cadres stated that he is one such victim who was misled and misguided by the HNLC among other unemployed and less educated youths.
The BSF stated that taking advantage of his simplicity, innocence and economic situation, the HNLC lured Tongper to join the outfit, and thereafter, exploited him for their unlawful activity and malafide intention.
Meanwhile, the BSF Meghalaya is putting in all out efforts to help such misguided youths to join the mainstream.
The BSF also assured to provide such youths the facilities of skill development & vocational training and remunerative amount post surrender.
The BSF informed that in the case of Tongper, they were continuously in touch with him since last one year.
“The restless and intense efforts of BSF bore the fruits and finally Junel Tongper was motivated to join the mainstream. It’s a huge blow to the militancy in Meghalaya and more such misguided youths will join main stream in times to come,†the BSF said.
Meanwhile, the family members of the cadre expressed their gratitude towards the BSF on homecoming of Tongper.
Meanwhile, Rana, the IG Meghalaya Frontier of the BSF said that the insurgency/militancy gets opportunities to prevail due to illiteracy and unemployment.
He urged the local population, village heads to work hand in hand with BSF to eradicate these evils.
The IG BSF further said that the border force is continuously encouraging the youths of border areas to pursue their career in defence and Central Armed Paramilitary Forces and lead a life of peace, tranquillity and prosperity.