Meghalaya Home Minister flays Patil statement

Shillong, Dec 10 (UNI) Meghalaya Home Minister Robert Garnett Lyngdoh said the overall law and order situation in the state was improving over the years.

His remark came in the backdrop of Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil's statement in the Rajya Sabha stating the internal security in Meghalaya has "deteriorated, even as the overall situation in the region has improved".

"There been no major breakdown of law and order and the state is back to normalcy over the years," Mr Lyngdoh told reporters here, adding that there has been sharp decline in number of criminal cases and militancy-related incidents.

In 2005, he said the total number of criminal cases registered was 2014, while till October this year, only 1694 cases were registered in the state.

''Yes, there are some criminal activities indulged by certain individuals, but this does not mean that one shower created a monsoon,'' the state Home Minister stated.

On the militancy-related incidents, Mr Lyngdoh said these incidents occurred mostly on the inter-state Meghalaya-Asom border due to encounters between security forces and militant cadres of Asom-based United Liberation Front of Asom.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Rajya Sabha that the ''number of violent incidents has gone up and also the civilians deaths in the last one year''.

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