TURA: Taking strong exception to the stand taken by the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) and the traders from Lower Assam to stop the supply of vegetables and food items to Garo Hills, the Association for Democracy and Empowerment (ADE) with support from public elders has also taken a firm stand of its own and decided to permanently ban traders from Hat Singimari area from selling their merchandise at Nazing Bazaar in Tura.
In a statement issued on Monday, the association pointed out that the dependence of the Muslim traders on Nazing Bazaar was evident from the fact that the majority of traders in the market were Muslims which until just recently had been dominated by local traders.
The fact that they were now all of a sudden stopping the supply of vegetables and food items into Garo Hills and threatening to hold an economic blockade with the demand that the Meghalaya Government raise the ex-gratia of the victims from Assam to 10 lakh and also the release of two accused responsible for the whole ongoing situation was unacceptable according to the association.
The association has warned that the situation would go from bad to worse if the government releases the two accused labourers while also demanding that if the government raised the ex-gratia for the Assam victims as demanded it do the same for the victims of Garo Hills.
Stating that the economic blockade was a blessing in disguise for the people of Garo Hills the association dared the traders to go ahead with it and to keep the blockade forever while adding that there was no place in Garo Hills for them in future.