The Hynñiewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO) met with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today to ask him to halt the negotiations with Assam over the disputed border in view of the former’s “nefarious and ulterior motive” to claim areas outside the 12 settled areas of dispute, made apparent, in their view, by the Mukroh Massacre last month.
The pressure group harked back to the Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement, saying that the Khasi-Jaiñtia states had never signed any instrument of merger.
Twenty-one years before Meghalaya was created and even before the erstwhile United Khasi and Jaiñtia District Council was formed, the Governor of undivided Assam had split off the Block 1 and 2 areas from Khasi-Jaiñtia Hills.
“This illegal act of the Governor is made blatant by the fact that there was never a report of any commission as required by Para 1 of the Sixth Schedule,” HITO said. “Since it is in violation of Para 14 of the Sixth Schedule in which it is mandatory to appoint a commission of inquiry before transferring any tribal area. Now the Govt of Assam is creating new areas of dispute and further illegal claims because it is sad to say that the present MDA Govt has relied only on the findings of Dr Mukul Sangma 2011 government which was ultimately stopped, it is apparent that the present MDA has neither the inter-state boundary agreements between the government of Meghalaya and government of Assam of 1983 and the subsequent claim made by Meghalaya over the vast tracts of land occupied by government of Assam and its people through illegal acts of the Assam forest and Assam police personnel and at one point of time even the utilising the surrendered ULFA cadres as in Maikhuli area of Ri-Bhoi district.”
HITO welcomed the Meghalaya government’s recent decision, following the Mukroh Massacre, that police be posted on the inter-state border but said that the police should be posted even in disputed areas.
It also called for an ‘inter-state council’ as per the provisions of Article 263 of the Constitution for a final and just settlement of the inter-state boundary between the states of Meghalaya and Assam.
It also called for greater financial compensation for the victims of the Mukroh Massacre.
