SHILLONG:
The Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) on October 3 termed the state government’s decision to withdraw the police from the disputed areas along the interstate border as “misdiagnosing” the problems faced by the border residents.
Speaking to reporters, FKJGP president, Dundee C Khongsit said, “The state government seems to have misdiagnosed the problems faced by the border people. (Withdrawing of the police forces from disputed areas) is like instead of giving medicine for stomach ache, the government is prescribing medicine for headache.”He added that the government’s decision would only be pouring fuel into fire.
He said the problem will further worsen keeping in mind the communication gap that will arise due to deployment of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the border area.
“Usually, the CRPF are deployed as additional forces in situations arising due to law and order problems,” Khongsit said.
“Therefore, we feel that it is unwise for both the state governments of Assam and Meghalaya to withdraw their respective police forces from the border,” he added.
On Saturday, the chief minister-level border talks between Assam and Meghalaya had decided to deploy the CRPF as a neutral force in the disputed areas even as they have asked their respective police forces to pull back as a confidence building measure to resolve the long pending boundary dispute issue.