SUMMARY
The GNLA (Garo National Liberation Army) was a separatist rebel group fighting an intrastate armed conflict over territory against the Government of India since 2010. Northeast India, sometimes referred to as the “Seven Sisters” after the seven states that comprise the region, has since independence been a patchwork of ethnic, linguistic and religious groups. These relatively small and sparsely populated (by Indian standards) states have experienced a turbulent history, stoked by ethnic tensions and insurgencies. One particularly prominent part of the social and political milieu in the region has been the demographic stress and conflict brought by the immigration from the rest of India and Bangladesh. The “indigenous” population of India’s seven northeastern states has commonly been referred to as the “tribal populations”. Many of these tribes, but not all, has received special protected status in the Constitution of India; the protected tribes are referred to as the “Scheduled Tribes”. The immigrant population of Northeast India is commonly called the “non-tribal” population, and is comprised of, for example, Bengalis and other ethnic or religious groups found in India proper. Among the tribal populations, there has often been a perception of discrimination, particularly compared to the “immigrant” non-tribal communities, but also between different tribal groups.
It was in this context that GNLA emerged in western Meghalaya state; the primary goal of the group was to achieve a sovereign homeland for the Garo people. The Garo, an indigenous tribal population, is the second largest ethnic group in Meghalaya, and the GNLA based its insurgency on the perceived discrimination of the Garo tribe, and the political and socio-economic advantages enjoyed by Meghalaya’s non-tribal population.
The GNLA was created in 2009 by Pakchara R. (“Champion”) Sangma, a deserter and former Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in Meghalaya state. Sangma also served as the “chairman” of the group, and its “commander-in-chief” was Sohan D. Shira, who was a former commander of Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC), another Garo separatist group operating in Meghalaya and Assam. Following Sangma’s capture in Bangladesh in 2015, Shira assumed leadership of the group. However, the GNLA announced in 2016 that Sangma would be the legitimate representative of the group in any future negotiations with the Government of India, despite him remaining in custody.
At its inception, the GNLA was believed to have between 45 and 70 active members, a number that had climbed to 200-250 by 2016. Many of its fighters were former members and deserters from other militant groups in the area, such as ANVC and Liberation of Achik Elite Force (LAEF). The GNLA had access to modern weaponry, including assault rifles and grenade launchers.
The GNLA has mainly operated in the east and south Garo Hills in western Meghalaya, with the village Dorengchigre in East Garo Hills District being the group’s “heartland”. The group also maintained some activities in the coal-rich West Khasi Hills area, as well as in Garo-inhabited areas in Assam state.
The GNLA funded itself through “taxation” or extortion activities. The group’s economy was hard hit by a ban on the so-called “rat-hole” mining of coal in Meghalaya in May 2014, as it had relied on extortion money collected from the coal transports. This also led to the GNLA intensifying its extortion against the general population.
The GNLA developed ties to several other militant groups operating in northeast India, such as the “Independent faction” of the ULFA (ULFA-I), the NDFB, and the NBFB-S. For example, it was believed that ULFA-I has trained GNLF members in the construction of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). It was also believed that the group at some point had connections to NSCN-IM. The GNLA also had an alliance with the Bangladeshi militant A'chik Special Dragon Party, which operated along the Meghalaya-Bangladesh border.
In early 2016, the GNLA announced that it had joined the UNLFW, an organization formed by a range of armed groups from India’s northeast the year before. UNLFW is fighting for the independence of what it referred to as "Western South East Asia", which incorporates the areas previously claimed separately by its constituent groups. With the joining of UNLFW, GNLA ceased to be a unique actor in UCDP data.
