Our Bureau
SHILLONG, Oct 23: A fresh wave of petrol bomb attacks has left Shillong on the edge, prompting East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Abhilash Baranwal to stress confidence-building with local communities even as Congress leader Manuel Badwar dismissed plans for additional central forces as inadequate without a functioning intelligence network.
Baranwal said the district administration was working on two fronts — restoring public trust through sustained engagement with Rangbah Shnong, headmen and community leaders, and backing the police effort to identify those behind the attacks.
Sector magistrates and district officers have been in regular contact with localities to underline the administration’s seriousness, he said, as concerns over safety continue to mount.
“As far as law and order is concerned regarding these ongoing petrol bomb hurling incidents, the district administration has two jobs to do. One is to have confidence building measures with the localities, with different populations. That is continuously being done through our officers, sector magistrates with the Rangbah Shnong, headmen and with different community leaders to build confidence about the seriousness of the district administration,” the DC said.
On the investigation side, he made clear the responsibility rested with the police. “As far as policing is concerned, the office of the Superintendent of Police is doing all it can to try and identify the culprits behind it so that they can be brought to book,” he added. He also noted that the limited presence of Village Defence Parties in the town had been flagged with localities by sector magistrates.
The comments came after police sought additional central paramilitary forces following four incidents within 48 hours.
The most recent attack struck the Enforcement Directorate office at Shyiap in Langkyrding in the early hours of Thursday. Two men on a motorcycle allegedly hurled a petrol bomb that landed on the steps, damaging window panes. No one was hurt.
That followed three attacks on Tuesday night at Kench’s Trace, Keating Road and Laitumkhrah. Earlier, a suspected incident was reported at the Directorate of Employment and Craftsmen Training office opposite Civil Hospital, and another near a grocery store at Lumshatsngi close to the Kench’s Trace Puja Mandap gate. Investigators are examining CCTV footage; no arrests have been reported.
Badwar, MPCC secretary, rejected the notion that a shortage of personnel was the core problem. Reacting to the Deputy Chief Minister’s announcement on bringing in central forces, he argued that reinforcements would achieve little if intelligence continued to fail.
“My understanding is very clear. The spate of petrol bomb attacks that is happening in the city as of right now is not a failure of law and order, but a failure of intelligence,” he said.
The government, he added, was reacting after the fact rather than anticipating threats and preventing them. Without timely, actionable information and a clear strategy to identify the perpetrators, a larger security presence would have limited value.
The timing has sharpened the anxiety. The attacks have unfolded during the festive season, when families gather and the city usually buzzes with visitors.
Badwar warned that prolonged insecurity could hurt tourism and daily economic activity, hitting businesses and wage earners if people stay indoors and outsiders stay away. He described public safety as essential to human capital and overall well-being, insisting the government remains answerable and cannot treat them as isolated events.
Residents, he said, are growing wary even while driving, parking, or passing police stations, government offices and official vehicles — a troubling development in the state capital, which he noted is not an area of entrenched insurgency. Effective policing, intelligence gathering and timely intervention should be enough to restore control, he argued.
While the administration has intensified community engagement and police have stepped up checkpoints, mobile and foot patrols, the repeated attacks have kept public unease alive. Restoring confidence, both sides agree in different ways, will ultimately depend on results: fewer incidents and the identification of those responsible.