TURA:
Garo Hills district citizens, on Saturday, gathered at Tura Chandmari field and Rongrenggiri field in Williamnagar to honour the lives of the nine souls whose lives were cut short during the agitation over an issue related to the Meghalaya Board of School Education or MBoSE, 18 years ago.
Concerned citizens, mostly a large group of the youth, gathered at the two venues to pay their respects to the victims. Leaders of the 30th September Victims Solidarity Forum, composed of members from student organisations led the citizens of Garo Hills in paying their respects to the nine victims, which included a teenage boy, Dipok D Shira of Mothers Union School in Tura, who was shot dead during the protests in Tura.
Dozens of others, including women and the elderly sustained bullet injuries on that fateful day.
Garo Students Union leaders and members of the forum reminded the gathering that the struggle of those who fought to retain MBOSE in Tura, and the lives sacrificed in the struggle, would never go in vain as their memory was etched forever in the history of Garo Hills.
People lit candles at the side of the cenotaph erected in the memory of the nine victims in Tura and Williamnagar, and participated in a special prayer meeting to pray for their souls.
Earlier, members of the 30th September Victims Solidarity Forum together with the family members of the nine victims visited the cemeteries to pay floral tributes on the tombs during the early morning hours in Tura and Williamnagar.
