SHILLONG:
Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition, Mukul Sangma on Tuesday asked the state governments of Meghalaya and Assam to prevent atrocities against scheduled tribes residing in the border.
Speaking to reporters, Sangma said he condemned the action of the authorities from the Assam counterpart.
He was referring to the video capturing the incident at Malang-Salbari, where women are protesting against the Assam police trying to obstruct some construction work.
Sangma said the responsibility of both the states is to ensure that “we do not create any situation wherein our citizens have reasons to have a sense of insecurity. This responsibility lies with both the state governments.”
“And this issue has been discussed in 2010 and agreed mutually to ensure there is no situation created by anybody either from Meghalaya or from Assam so that the citizens residing in those areas of difference are not subjected to have any sense of insecurity forget about the kind of scene that you have seen yesterday which required to be taken cognisance of by the state of Meghalaya,” he said.
Asking the two governments to convene an immediate meeting on the matter, the leader of opposition said, “We must prevent any such incidents from now on and please remember this population they are targeting belongs to Scheduled Tribes.”
He stated that there are many laws passed by the parliament which includes prevention of atrocities against the STs and SCs plus many laws preventing women from any highhandedness and also the question of the responsibility of any government to respect human rights.
“If you see in the visuals, there is an abuse of human rights and there is an intentional and deliberate attempt to infuse a sense of insecurity among the tribal population which is a violation of the relevant provisions of the law passed by the Parliament to protect the STs and SCs and please they are non bailable sections,” he stated.