Shillong: Leader of Opposition in the Meghalaya Assembly and Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator Dr. Mukul Sangma has termed the killing of six people at Mukroh village in State’s West Jaintia Hills district by Assam Police as ‘genocide’.
The former Chief Minister also blamed the National People’s Party (NPP)-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government for its ‘failure’ in providing safety and security to the people along the border areas.
“From the recent happenings along the inter-state border, I can draw a conclusion that both Meghalaya and Assam governments have completely disconnected themselves from the SOPs that has been laid based on the mutually agreed terms and conditions to deal with problems along the areas of difference,” Sangma said.
On Tuesday, the Leader of Opposition visited Mukroh village after the killing of five Pnar villagers, to stand in solidarity with the distressed.
Sangma said whatever collective efforts were taken by the preceding governments has been completely ignored. “They are completely disconnected from reality,” he said.
“As per the inputs made available to us, it is genocide, and we will have to see the circumstances leading to the situation,” the senior TMC leader said.
Stating that over the decades, similar challenges have confronted the Meghalaya government, the former Chief Minister said, “Having learnt from the past, we had exhaustive discussion, deliberation and engagement, SOPs were laid down to deal with such situations.”
Recalling the 2010 Langpih incident in West Khasi Hills district, in which four people were shot dead by Assam police, Sangma said, “The first thing that we did was that we confronted the Government of Assam; ensured that under no circumstances our people should be subjected with a sense of insecurity. Therefore, we reinstalled the presence of police in that area, and we followed up with our counterpart to ensure that no such instances of infringing upon the rights of the people happen.”
In the recent past, it has been observed that both the state governments have completely deviated from the SOPs and there is absolute lack of coherence between the states.
After visiting Mukroh and meeting the injured persons at Jowai Civil Hospital, the Leader of Opposition appealed to all concerned to maintain calm and insist that the law of the land to take its own course.
The former chief minister said the government must assume upon itself without any further delay to ensure justice as per the law of the land.
“We want to see that the government fulfills its legal, social and all other necessary responsibilities,” he said.
