A day after a group of Meghalaya police personnel fled after they were chased away by Karbi villagers at Lapangap village in West Jaintia Hills, the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) today asked the State government to provide arms to people residing along the inter-state border with Assam.
“If the State government does not dare to deploy adequate security personnel, we demand that it would be better for the government to provide arms and ammunition and other weapons to the people in the border so that they can defend and protect their lives and property because as it is, police cannot be trusted anymore with this task,” HYC general secretary Roykupar Synrem said in a statement today.
Synrem also demanded for deployment of hundreds of police personnel in every police outpost and border police outpost along with arms and ammunition and to authorise them to use teargas, lathi charge “and even open fire if needed to protect our land and the people in the border”.
It may be recalled that 15 armed personnel of Meghalaya Police deployed along the Assam-Meghalaya border in Lapangap village fled after they were attacked by hundreds of Karbi villagers yesterday evening.
The video of the police personnel running for their lives has gone viral even as tension continues in Lapangap with the Pnar villagers remaining alert following the recent incident of Karbis uprooting of tree saplings planted by Lapangap villagers.
Lapangap headman Deimonmi Lyngdoh has urged the district administration to provide additional police forces for the safety of the Pnar community in the border areas.
He also said that Assam has set up a police camp in Lumumshyrngat, within the jurisdiction of Lapangap village.
