SHILLONG, NOV 28: Opposition All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) on Monday expressed disagreement over the setting up of a judicial enquiry commission by the Assam government since Mukroh village falls under the jurisdiction of Meghalaya.
The opposition have also asserted the need to either form a new government or impose President’s rule in Meghalaya citing that the present MDA government has lost its moral authority following the killing of five Khasi villagers in the Assam police firing at Mukroh.
Speaking to reporters after an all-party meeting, AITC leader and opposition chief whip George B Lyngdoh said the government had said two judicial enquiry commissions have been set up – one from Assam side and one from state government side.
“Now we deferred with the point because the judicial commission that has been set up by Assam is exceeding its jurisdiction because the incident had happened in Mukroh which infact falls under the jurisdiction of Meghalaya,” Lyngdoh said.
He also questioned, “The judicial enquiry that is going to be set by Meghalaya also now how will it work on those people who fall under the control of Assam especially the police which are under the administrative control of Assam. Can our judicial enquiry cross beyond the borders of Meghalaya and work on people who are under the control of Assam? Whether that judicial enquiry and its recommendations will work? so we express our doubts.”
He said the state government had said that they are going to call for a CBI enquiry or an NIA probe that will come and carry out the process. “However, we don’t know the timing. We don’t know whether the central government has actually agreed to it or not whether it is going to be a CBI enquiry or some other judicial enquiry also we don’t know,” he said.
Demanding the immediate arrest of the Assam police and forest guards involved in the firing, Lyngdoh said, “Therefore, what we said was that why don’t we put our task force our police into action as we had said earlier also we had demanded the government that those culprits should be arrested and arrest warrant should be immediately issued by the state police against those culprits because it is a murder that has been committed on Meghalaya soil and the state police should go against those culprits.”
He said the opposition has also demanded the government to provide alternative or some kind of employment to the next of kin of the departed villagers and take care of all the medical expenses of those injured.
Stating that they totally disagree with the government clubbing the firing incident with the inter-state boundary issue, the opposition chief whip said, “We wanted that this criminal act should be dealt with the sternness of action from the state government side and they should also ensure that they show their authority over this case otherwise then it will weaken their point on further discussion on inter-state boundary issues and in their inter-state border settlement if the state government does not act now and show its authority over such areas then perhaps it would be pushing the state government on a back foot and also further discussion and communication they are going to have with government of Assam in the years and the months to come.”
“The government said that they are going to be looking into these demands made by several parties and there has been no assurance that actions will be taken based on the demands made,” he rued.
On the growing demand for resignation of the Chief Minister and his council of ministers, Lyngdoh said, “We have made it very clear that if the government has again fail to reassert its authority and jurisdictional control over the areas that falls under the jurisdiction of Meghalaya then the right of people to live there is being suppressed and at the same time the government has failed in its responsibility to act timely,” as he continued “If this irresponsibility continues I think they have lost not only the CM but the entire cabinet has lost its moral responsibility to rule the state and therefore either a new government should come or in fact a president’s rule should also be imposed in the state considering the fact that the government has lost its moral authority and its responsibility in governing the state.”
When asked, Lyngdoh said that people had come and alerted the government on time regarding the highhandedness of the Assam police and also their use of force and we also know that the Assam police have been patrolling for many a time but then the government had shrugged away its responsibility.
To another query, the Umroi MLA reiterated and said, “Murder committed on Meghalaya soil so why the state have to run from pillar to post to demand for enquiry why can’t we used our own police force to bring these criminals to book. You have time and again that this government has instituted many inquiries but what is the income nothing, no action has been taken.”
He said, “It has nearly been a week now since the incident has happened and arrest warrants have not yet been issued and the state government has not asserted its presence and its jurisdictional authority over that particular area considering the crime has been committed on Meghalaya’s soil – that sends a very soft message to the people and that the government is weak on asserting its administration and political authority.”
According to him, 57 incidents have already happened in the past 4-5 years.
“Now what is alarming is that the people and the headmen of five villages have already met the government officials even met CM himself in the past few months and also alerted the government that atrocities of Assam police and their highhandedness have kept increasing over the past few months but then the government was silent,” he stated.
By Our Reporter
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