SHILLONG: The State government has extended the term of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) by six months and the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) by another fifteen days.
The tenure of all the three district councils is slated to expire on February 17 but with the Cabinet giving the nod for extension of the term for all the three councils, the life spans have been further extended by six months to the GHADC and fifteen days each for KHADC and JHADC.
“The proposal for the extension of the terms of the three ADCs has been approved by the cabinet,” Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma told reporters after the cabinet meeting here.
ANVC pact delays GHADC poll
SHILLONG: The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to extend the term of the GHADC for six months with the anticipation of signing the final peace pact with the ANVC on the basis of the draft peace pact signed on January 5 last year.
“We would take up with the Centre to complete the process within six months. The final accord which would be signed based on the agreed text for a political settlement with the ANVC is in the final stage,” Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma said after the Cabinet meeting.
The Chief Minister informed that the matter is pending for the approval of the Centre.
“The Union Cabinet had actually sought some queries from the State Government on the agreed text of settlement. We will be replying to the queries at the earliest,” Dr Sangma said.
He informed that the ANVC delegation met him in the last few weeks in Garo Hills and conveyed that the intension of the Government would be contradicted if the elections in respectto the GHADC are carried out without the final peace pact.
“Besides other things, the text of settlement also includes the provision of enabling the outfit to disband the group. This would ultimately pave way for the top cadres of the outfit to participate in the democratic process by taking part in the proposed election to the GHADC after signing the accord,” Chief Minister said.
He said that if election to GHADC is held now and even if the accord is signed, the outfit’s members would not be able to participate in the election process because next election would be held only in 2019.
“After a detailed deliberation, we decided to consider extension of GHADC’s term for six months at one time to enable the accord to be completed to bring lasting peace in Garo Hills,” Chief Minister said.
Chief Minister however informed that it was also brought to the notice of the Cabinet that because of the delay of the settlement and subsequent accord, the parent organisation has found it difficult to maintain its cadres as there is a fear of cadres leaving the outfit.
“Most of their cadres are expected to be from various criminal backgrounds and at times it is very difficult for the organization to actually keep all their members together resulting in number of desertions which ultimately led to the mushrooming of various organizations. The delay in the whole process is actually vitiating the peaceful atmosphere in Garo Hills,” Chief Minister said.
He said that the negotiation consumed a lot of time because the ANVC initially wanted a model of Bodo Territorial Council (BTC).
“We finally conveyed to the ANVC that in view of the situation not similar to Assam in respect to Meghalaya it was not possible to comply with that demand.
After this, discussion was to bring down those parameters which were part of their demand to have similar kind of power, jurisdiction, subjects and others as in ditto as BTC,” Dr Sangma said.
He said the discussions took time to ultimately prevail upon the ANVC to bring down their demands. “We could therefore sign the text of settlement only in 2013”, he said.
The Chief Minister also said that the proposed text of settlement for accord also includes increase in the number of seats from the existing 29 to 40 which would require amendment of the relevant portion of the sixth schedule of the constitution. “Since the same provisions would require to be extended to other two ADCs, the amendment specific to Meghalaya district councils would have to be moved in the Parliament”, Dr Sangma said.
While replying to a query, he said that various provisions of the text of settlement would be extended to KHADC and JHADC for uniformity and the same has already been communicated to the Centre after it sought clarifications.
When pointed out that other militant outfits are demanding separate Garoland, he said that the ANVC is the parent organization and original agreement was signed with the outfit, but a lot of desertion resulted in the mushrooming of number of militant organizations.
“To justify their desertion they are coming up with these demands. The trend is elsewhere in the Northeast,” Chief Minister said.
“One of the tasks of the ANVC was to talk to the deserted group and bring them within the same umbrella of the negotiated settlement. I hope they will urge others to join with them and take advantage of the peace process” Chief Minister said.
When tripartite agreement was signed in 2004, Dr Sangma said that GNLA commander in chief Sohan D Shira was part of the ANVC.
KHADC, JHADC polls now before March 3
SHILLONG: The State government has extended the present term of both the KHADC and JHADC by another 15 days with a view to complete the election process.
Informing this after a Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday, District Council Affairs Minister HDR Lyngdoh said that the cabinet was briefed about the Department’s inability to hold elections of the two district councils within the date of expiry of its term as there was the delay due to the delimitation process in two ADCs (KHADC and JHADC).
The terms of all the three district councils of the state is slated to expire on February 17.
He also informed that the election process in the two ADCs would be completed within March 3 and the department would announce the election date shortly. The DCA Minister informed that the Cabinet has also approved the delimitation Bill passed by the KHADC. The JHADC delimitation Bill was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
While replying to a question on the writ filed by hundreds of traditional chiefs from Jaintia Hills opposing the delimitation Bill, Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma said that anybody within the democratic system has the right to knock the door of judicial system.
“Since we have approved the proposed delimitation, it gives a clear indication that Government wants to go ahead with the whole exercise,” Dr Sangma said.
Earlier on Tuesday, over hundred traditional chiefs along with pressure groups filed a writ petition with the Meghalaya High Court against the proposed delimitation.
Meanwhile, the seven pressure groups from Jaintia Hills (JSU, Jaintia Peoples’ Forum (JPMF), AJYWO, FKJGJGP, HANM and HNPF) have strongly opposed the decision of the Cabinet to approve the proposed delimitation of the constituencies in the JHADC.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, JPMF president Baitlang Pohsngap said that majority of the traditional heads of both East and West Jaintia Hills are also supporting the NGOs in opposing the proposed delimitation.
“There are major flaws in the proposed delimitation. The whole exercise was carried out in a rush manner. The constituencies have been delimited only to suit the selfish interest of the politicians,” Pohsngap said.
He also said that Governor Dr KK Paul has not given his assent to the proposed delimitation due to the mass opposition of the people in Jaintia Hills.