Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today said that the matter at Iongkhuli is under control and that he had spoken to his opposite number in Assam, Himanta Biswa Sharma, on the incident.
Yesterday’s border flare-up saw Assam police manhandle Mawhati MDC Charles Marngar. The Assam authorities claimed that the village belongs to Assam and uprooted an electric pole that had been erected by the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Ltd (MeECL).
The timing of the incident was highly embarrassing to the government as Sangma had just met with Sarma on the vexed issue of the border disputes on Friday.
“We have both decided that there should not be any further instigation and both sides had been asked to restrain and refrain from any aggressive movement and try to maintain peace before an amicable solution is found to this long-pending issue,” the Meghalaya CM told reporters.
He informed that Jirang MLA Sosthenes Sohtun has also made a field visit and met the people there and will be submitting a report very shortly.
“I will be in touch with the Deputy Commissioner of Ri-Bhoi, who is also in constant touch with the DC of Kamrup (in Assam) and our Chief Secretary has also spoken to his counterpart Assam,” he said while adding that both state governments are working to find an amicable solution.
Stating that the state government has finalised locations for new police outposts in the border areas, he said that the government also has to consider several factors.
“In areas where there is no dispute, we will go ahead and set up the outposts, while in super-sensitive areas, once the talks move forward and once we amicably resolve everything, then only will the outposts be set up because we don’t want to create unnecessary aggression which will not serve any purpose,” he added.
The opposition Congress Party, meanwhile, slammed Sangma’s government for its “slow and tardy” response to the border incursion by Assam and said that the village is an integral part of Meghalaya.
Senior Congress legislator Zenith Sangma said that there are 12 areas of differences along the 884km Meghalaya-Assam border but Assam is trying to make Iongkhuli a new area of dispute.
“Apart from the recorded 12 areas of differences, this is a fresh area of dispute. I had cautioned the government about this in my press conference last week. Iongkhuli is the integral part of the territory of Meghalaya. How can the police force of Assam trespass? Is the Meghalaya government sleeping or is it because of the weak leadership, or is the present government not bothered? We want a reply,” Sangma said.
The Congress MLA also expressed his resentment over the slow response of the police and the state government on the Iongkhuli incident.
“When local people contacted the MDC, Charles Marngar, at around 11:30am, he rushed immediately and reached the spot around 1:45pm but the SP of Ri-Bhoi, although informed at 11:30am, reached the spot after 4pm only. Immediately after getting the information, Marngar informed Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong but till the end there was no action or further information and when the MDC contacted him (Tynsong) again his call was not attended to. This is the state of affairs in our state under the present government. We don’t know what their priority is,” Sangma said.
He also urged the Meghalaya government not to take this serious matter lightly and to solve the border issue immediately through dialogue with the intervention of the central government.
Meanwhile, the disputes between Meghalaya and Assam were briefly mentioned in Parliament today.
The Centre admitted that Assam has boundary disputes with four neighbouring states – Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
This was stated by the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.
“Occasional protests and incidents of violence are reported from some of the disputed border areas,” Rai said.
The minister said that these boundary disputes arose out of demarcation of boundaries and claims and counter claims over territories.
“The approach of the central government has consistently been that inter-state disputes can be resolved only with the cooperation of the state governments concerned and that the central government acts only as a facilitator for amicable settlement of the dispute in the spirit of mutual understanding,” the minister added.
