Extortion is the backbone of insurgency in the Northeast and Meghalaya, host to twoinsurgent groups, is no exception. Media reports suggested that the presence of uniformed private securitypersonnel in the business establishments of Police Bazaar and Barra Bazaar in Shillong, Meghalaya's capital,is intended to protect shop-owners from extortionists. But, the common belief is that when a demand comes fromthe militant of the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) or the Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC),no law enforcer or constitutional authority can protect those who do not pay up. In several cases in themid-1990s, defaulters were simply eliminated, and the case of Rajesh Saigal of Saigal Motor Accessories inLaitumkhrah is fresh in public memory.
In the early 1990s, outfits like the ANVC depended on forest contractors for the major share of their funds.However, with public exposés of forest scams and the ban on the timber trade, the focus of extortion shiftedto the lucrative coal trade, and eventually brought businessmen, ministers and government officials into itsambit. In September 1997, a state Minister who happened to run a weighing bridge on lease was given anextortion note demanding fifty thousand rupees. Around the same time, seven top businessmen were asked to payamounts ranging from Rs 1 to 2 lakh and, gradually, increasing numbers of traders and businessmen foundthemselves targeted by the insurgents' 'tax' network.
Police sources indicate that, during March 2003, the ANVC had served extortion notes to most businessmen inthe East and West Garo Hills districts. Government servants in these districts were also asked to pay acertain proportion of their salaries every month. Truckers engaged in coal transportation were also asked topay from fifteen to twenty thousand rupees annually to the outfit. Besides this 'annual tax', 'every truckcarrying coal and other commodities is directed to be ready to pay any amount at any moment whenever themilitants are in need of money'. Approximately four hundred trucks ply daily carrying coal from the GaroHills.
"Receiving demand notes, negotiating on the amount and the nature of payment has become a part of ourbusiness skill. When even the laborers working in the coal business are not spared, I can't think of defyingthe militants demand not only for the continuation of my business but also for my own safety", rued afrustrated businessman, who owns a coal field in Borsora.
According to rough estimates, Meghalaya exports coal, limestone and boulders worth Rs 200 crore annually toBangladesh. Between October 1989 and March 1990, the Meghalaya Mineral Development Corporation (MMDC), incharge of the official export, exported 36,000 tonnes of coal to Bangladesh, worth Rs 3.35 crore. The averagetransshipment of coal to Bangladesh from South Garo Hills through land customs stations alone is of the valueof Rs 2 to 2.5 crore. Although no accurate estimate is available of the proportion of this total trade thatfinds its way into the militants' coffers, it is certain that the coal trade alone could meet most of thefinancial requirements of the ANVC's operations.
To elude the police dragnet, the militants have adopted varied methods of extortion. Shunning the earlierpractice of sending its own men to collect the ransom, the ANVC, in 2003, started sending extortion notesdemanding between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 40 lakh by Registered Post from Williamnagar, to businessmen and governmentservants in Tura. The group also engages college students, auto rickshaw drivers, common people and some ofits overground members for the distribution of extortion notes.