Shillong, Oct 20: The outlawed Hynñiewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) has asserted that the disputed Block I and II belong to Meghalaya and that they are ancestral and legal lands of the Khasi-Jaintia people.
In a statement today, HNLC self-style General Secretary Sainkupar Nongtraw said the state and central governments should initiate an impartial boundary re-survey under international standards by involving the Khasi-Jaintia traditional institutions.
Stating that the claim of ownership is grounded in history, administration and law the HNLC said, “Historical survey maps prepared by the British in 1872 and again in 1929 both recognized by the Government of Meghalaya in its present boundary claims depict Blocks I and II within the Hynniewtrep and not within the Karbi region. These maps, which predate Indian independence, remain the strongest cartographic evidence of the lawful and traditional boundaries of the Hynniewtrep homeland. No record of a Karbi administrative presence or jurisdiction exists in these maps, and the people inhabiting these lands spoke the Khynriam and Pnar languages, practiced Hynniewtrep customs, and paid allegiance to the traditional Syiemships of the Hynniewtrep Kingdom.”
The HNLC said that the 1951 notification by the then Governor of Assam was temporary administrative convenience without consent of the Hynniewtrep traditional authorities. “Such notifications cannot legally or morally erase the pre-existing historical and cultural ownership of the Hynniewtrep over Blocks I and II,” it added.
Pointing out that the Assam Reorganisation (Meghalaya) Act, 1969 later formalized state boundaries, the HNCL stated it did not and cannot alter the historical truth. “The Act itself acknowledges the pre-existing cultural and administrative character of the Khasi-Jaintia Hills. Any claim by the Karbi Anglong authorities that these lands belonged historically to the Karbi Kingdom is baseless, contradicting both documentary evidence and the living memory of the people,” the HNLC said.
