GUWAHATI:
With just two days left for the final round of meeting on the interstate border row between Meghalaya and Assam with Union Home Minister, the Garo Development Council (GDC), in a memorandum to Shah on March 7, said that demand for a separate Garo state may arise if their villages along the Assam border were to merge with Khasi Hills districts without addressing the issue of permanent land patta and voting right in Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC).
The demand for a separate Garo state also may arise in the future if Garo villages are included into Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, where Garos will be socially and democratically deprived. Can the Meghalaya government convince KHADC to issue permanent land pattas and voting rights in KHADC for us?” asked GDC chairman Alex K Sangma and vice-chairman Thengsil Sangma, through the memorandum.
The leaders also said that now a cloud of uncertainty looms over the fate of the Garo people living in border villages of Assam. “Since 1972, it’s been almost five decades since Garos are deprived of voting, contesting polls and land rights in the KHADC. Garos living in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills feel like second-class citizens in Meghalaya since the Khasis and Jaintias dominate every sphere, whether its business, administration or politics,” they said through the memorandum.
They also fear that the inclusion of border Garo villages of Kamrup (Rural) and Kamrup (Metro) district of Assam into Khasi Hills districts may lead to geopolitical instability accentuating internal security issue if the Garo tribes are repeatedly deprived of democratic rights in Khasi Hills districts. The Assam government has proposed to hand over approximately 50 villages dominated by the Garo community covering 18.29 sq km area along the Kamrup (Metro)-Ri-Bhoi and Kamrup (Rural)- West Khasi Hills.
“Majority of Garo people residing along the border have unanimously decided to stay in Assam at the time of the creation of separate Meghalaya state with the sole purpose of maintaining the age-old continuity, social security and tranquillity with the people of Assam which are the quintessential prerequisites for the all-round socio-economic development of the people of the state,” they said.
Finally, they said that it is imperative on the part of the Government of India to take cognizance of the matter and safeguard the right of the Garos.