As an act of protest against the recent claim of Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, that Meghalaya has been guilty of encroaching on Assam territory, the Hynñiewtrep Indigenous Territorial Organisation (HITO) staged an event to remind Sarma of his own state’s past practices.
HITO today hung up a banner at Khang Khatwie, which, the pressure group said, had been under Elaka Nongjngi and Elaka Labang Nongphyllut until 1972 and should be part of Meghalaya today, except that Assam had “seized” it that year.
The land is sacred to the Khasi-Jaiñtia people as religious ceremonies were performed there, including the elections of Dallois and other traditional leaders.
“We condemn the false claim not based in fact made by the CM of Assam and, as a mark of disapproval to his statement, we have erected the signboards to show that it is Assam that encroached onto Meghalaya and not vice versa,” HITO’s Jaiñtia Hills unit said.
