The Hynñiewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO) has called Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma a liar with respect to the signing of agreement to conclude Phase 1 of the boundary negotiations with Assam.
HITO president Donbok Dkhar today said that Sangma lied in the Assembly yesterday when he said that all stakeholders, including pressure groups, were consulted before the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed.
The CM had said that the process saw multiple stakeholder meetings and that ministers and concerned officials went to ground zero and held public hearings that are on record.
However, contradicting Sangma, Dkhar said that there was little consultation in the meeting that HITO attended.
“There was no discussion in the meeting called by the Chief Minister on the MoU. The meeting was more to say that the paperwork is ready and it does not matter whether anyone agrees or not and he never showed us the MoU,” he claimed.
The agreement to conclude the first phase was signed earlier this year, to great frustration, anger and even a feeling of betrayal by many residents who wished to be part of Meghalaya but have now found themselves at the mercy of Assam. The Meghalaya government, however, has steadfastly defended the deal and said that there is no chance of it being revisited.
Meanwhile, KHNAM State Youth Wing today said judging by the statement made by the Chief Minister in the House it is clear that he wants to proceed with the border talks by force.
“The claims made by the CM that the government has proceeded the matter after visiting ground zero and work extra hard to resolve the boundary issue is misleading because the MoU signed was without the knowledge of anyone especially the border inhabitants,” Thomas Passah said today.
“We understand that the CM does not belong to the Khasi community but we expect others who belong to our community to not remain blind and silent and allow him to do whatever he wants,” he stated.
