The Jaiñtia Students Union (JSU) has demanded the transfer of Block 1 to Meghalaya under the Jaiñtia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) by repealing an order from April 1951.
It was in 1951, more than 20 years before Meghalaya was carved out of Assam, that the disputed Block 1 area was split off from Jaiñtia Hills and attached to districts that would end up staying with Assam when Meghalaya was created in 1972.
JSU leaders today met and submitted a memorandum to senior civil servant Cyril VD Diengdoh on the matter.
The JSU justified that a large chunk of Jaiñtia Hills was unconstitutionally detached and mechanically tagged with the non-adjoining and truncated Mikir Hills (now Karbi Anglong) only for administrative convenience by the Governor of Assam in April 1951.
This went against the will of the people comprising one Dalloiship (Labang-Nongphyllut), one Sirdarship (Langsoh-Mynriang) and a large part of Raliang Dalloiship known as Pangam Raliang.
The JSU said many who opposed this were also arrested and jailed. Two people were even beaten to death at Nowgong (Nagaon) jail.
Stating that while the action of the then Governor was constitutional as he had exercised his power as per Paragraph 1 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, the JSU said that the action was against the human rights of the Khasi-Jaiñtia people, who have continued to be oppressed, threatened and even killed in the region to the present day.
The JSU central body, along with the JSU Elaka Labang Nongphyllut, who also submitted a memorandum to the chairman of Meghalaya’s regional committee that is handling that part of the border negotiations, Sniawbhalang Dhar, has said that the boundary talk between the two states should be resolved on the principles outlined above to enable to return or reunification of Block 1 to Meghalaya as per the law and constitution of the country.
