SHILLONG:
The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), on September 19, warned people from Karbi community in Assam to stop intimidating Pnar people residing in the 36 villages under Block-I in West Jaintia Hills District.
It alleged even Assam police were carrying out atrocities on the people and asked the Meghalaya government to stop it.
“We strongly condemn the Karbi people for intimidating our people every now and then. We therefore want to send a clear message to the Karbi people to refrain from such activities because if they continue further, the KSU will also do the same thing to their people staying in the state,” president of the KSU West Jaintia Hills District, Laitphar Syngkrem, told reporters at a press conference here.
He said the intimidation started after people from the villages in Block-I came to attend a meeting called by the Union in Barato recently. The Karbi people had threatened to kidnap one of the headmen for attending the meeting, he added.
General secretary Leningrad Tariang said that the Pnar people have to pay different illegal taxes to the Assam police. “They are being taxed for cutting grasses for making a hut, building houses, agricultural produce and even going to the market,” he said.
According to him, the intimidation is more from the Karbi people because they want to encroach on the 36 villages in view of their demand for a separate state.
“Therefore, we urge the state government to immediately intervene and address the problems faced by the Pnar people,” Tariang said, adding that the police department should deploy its uniformed men for patrolling to these villages.
He also asked the government to take the matter seriously as the people of the 36 villages want to be in Meghalaya by setting up police outposts at Moolber and Iooksi. “We also urge the government to speed up the second phase of border talks,” he added.