Monday said that reluctance on the part of the State Government to call the pro-ILP groups is an indication that the Government is not very concerned about maintaining law and order in the State.
“The eagerness of the NGOs to talk on the ILP should be appreciated and accepted by the Government,” CSWO president Agnes Kharshiing said, adding that if the Government declines the offer then it will send a message that the Government is not concerned about ushering in normalcy and peace.
“The government is ‘hell bent’ on alienating the locals from their lands and diminishing our identity,” Kharshiing said, adding that the rate at which the electoral enrolment drive in Meghalaya is being conducted by the Election Commission is frightening and this should be checked and reported by every genuine citizen of the State so as to flush out all illegal entries.
“Meghalaya cannot be an entry point for anyone who cannot get enrolment elsewhere,” she said, adding, “the excuse that we cannot stop anyone and that anyone can enroll anywhere in India, including Meghalaya, cannot be accepted as Meghalaya falls under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India and we are to be protected at all cost.”
She also blamed the failure of the system itself which has given rise to pressure groups to demand to right the wrong that has been done all these years.
“The Government’s ploy of putting pressure on the NGOs, through the police, by arresting the NGO leaders cannot be tolerated in a democracy. Protests cannot be suppressed by a Government run by one party that represents hardly 20 per cent of the people of the State,” Kharshiing said.
The CSWO also hoped that the Government lives up to its billing of being a ‘government of the people’, and shed its ego and call the agitating NGOs for talks on the ILP issue.
