A red alert has been sounded throughout Meghalaya and night curfew clamped in a stretch of about five km in East Garo Hills district along the Assam-Meghalaya border in view of the ongoing flush-out operation against militants in Assam, official sources said. The dawn-to-dusk curfew has been imposed in apprehension that the militants from Assam might sneak into Meghalaya, the sources added.

Meanwhile, the Meghalaya police have started assessing the properties of the banned Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) activists following instruction from the Home Ministry. Police said that the houses of the HNLC members were being videotaped for the past two days and their bank accounts scrutinised. The same operation would be carried out in the Garo Hills to assess the properties of the ultras of the banned organisation — HNLC and Achik National Volunteer Council — within a short time, sources said. Police claimed that they had completed videotaping the houses of the HNLC members in the city and added that the same would be done in the districts where the organisation was active. 

The assessment which started on December 12 had covered more than 50 suspected HNLC members’ residences so far, the police said. The areas which had been covered were Mawlai, Mawprem, Jaiaw, Laitumukhrah, Mawkhar, Nongthymmai, Madanriting, Happy Valley and Rynjah