Shillong, Oct 15: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today failed to give any concrete assurances to the people of Lapangap that they will be able to harvest their paddy following a deadly bout of violence between villagers from Meghalaya and Assam.
Last week one person from the Assam side died in a violent confrontation between the two sides when villagers from the Meghalaya side began harvesting rice along the disputed border.
Asked today whether the villagers will be able to harvest their produce uninterrupted, Sangma said, “It’s a very difficult situation. We cannot guarantee that right now. We’re trying to talk, but only if we get a positive response from across (the border). Let’s try to get over this phase and at least allow people to harvest, but only when we have a mutual agreement will we be able to move forward. Till then, though the harvesting is absolutely crucial for our people, the lives and safety, security are of paramount importance.”
A delegation from the village met him and Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar to request more security for the Meghalaya villagers.
“We had discussed in detail that there is enough tension in the area and, though the harvesting is very important for the farmers and the public there, safety and security are our utmost concern,” Sangma said of the meeting. “Even if we may be able to provide sufficient manpower, these kinds of incidents are something that cannot be 100 percent under our control. Hence, we wouldn’t want any kind of unfortunate incident to happen out there, which would only escalate the overall tension in that area.”
He added, “To avoid any kind of unfortunate situation, we have urged that we must restrain [ourselves] at this point in time. We must be patient. The situation was not expected to go in this direction. There was a lot of positive dialogue going on between the different stakeholders and we had expected that we’ll be able to peacefully move forward. But unfortunately, this incident took place and it was something that even the Assam police and Meghalaya police were equally surprised about.”
Until the matter is worked through, it would be better to avoid “any activity that could lead to any kind of further tension in that particular area,” the CM added.
