Attempt to obliterate Khasi-Jaintia tribe, culture
SHILLONG: The Khasi and Jaintia Development Council Demand Committee (KJDCDC) which met Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram in New Delhi on Wednesday has revealed that some Muslim miscreants have resorted to a new tactic of ‘Love Jihad’ to lure innocent young and women of their community living in Assam.
“Recently, a new weapon has been unleashed by some miscreants against our tribes through ‘Love Jihad’. Some goons are luring our innocent girls and women to marry them in an attempt to obliterate our distinct tribes and cultures and to eventually hoard our lands because we are a matrilineal tribe. Instances of rape and kidnapping of our girls and women by suspected immigrants and goons are increasing which have been reported to the district authorities and the media in the three districts of Barak Valley (Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi),” KJDCDC general secretary Comely Gassah said in a memorandum submitted to the Union Tribal Affairs Minister.
‘Love Jihad’ has been a topic of widespread debate in the country with its roots emanating from Uttar Pradesh.
He also said that there are cases of land-grabbing over the years which have caused displacement and migration resulted in reduction of the Khasi-Jaintia population in Assam.
“This process has been going on for many years now and many of the Khasi and Jaintia villages have been ravaged, attacked and overrun by suspected immigrants, sometimes with the open collusion of the condoning Government officials. The use of force and vandalism against villagers and their betel leaf and betel nut cultivation has caused severe loss and displacement to the indigenous Khasi and Jaintia tribal minority communities,” KJDCDC said.
“There seems to be a systematic drive and sinister plot against the Khasi & Jaintia people starting from the post Independence period, in which outside immigrants and Muslim miscreants are subjecting our people to undue harassment, humiliation and use of force to chase away our people from their settled punjees (lands) with the intention of grabbing our land forcefully. The support of the Government officials in these injustices is also blatantly evident and has been regularly reported,” he said.
He also claimed that the Khasi and Jaintia tribes living in Assam continue to be victims of political conflicts and divisions since the medieval ages and in the Indo-Pak Partition period in 1947 and then during the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 to even in the present times. “As peace-loving communities, they have been forced to seek shelter elsewhere including the neighbouring Khasi & Jaintia villages and even to neighbouring state of Meghalaya with which they have clan linkages. Many Khasi and Jaintia villages have disappeared over the years due to hostile human environment, intimidation, eviction drive by the State Government and encroachment caused by influx of Bangladeshi immigrants into south Assam,” Gassah said.
He also said that there is growing unrest and general feeling of neglect and discrimination by the Government among the people of the Khasi & Jaintia communities due to the lack of employment opportunities and dwindling of cultivable land caused by the constant land-grabbing and hostile environment created by the Bangladeshi immigrants and Muslim miscreants infringing on the traditional rights of the indigenous settlers.
The delegation, while demanding ST status for the indigenous Khasi and Jaintia tribes in Assam, which include the Khynriam, Jaintia (Pnar and War), Lyngngam, Bhoi and Marram tribes in the entire state of Assam, said the same should be notified in the Gazettes of Assam and India.
The delegation demanded the immediate creation of permanent and democratic Khasi and Jaintia Development Council and Khasi and Jaintia Village Councils within the framework of the Constitution. Their jurisdiction will be applicable only in Khasi and Jaintia villages of Assam.
They also demanded nomination of two members, to be elected by the communities to the proposed Vidhan Parishad of the Assam government, from among the Khasi and Jaintia communities in Assam.
Further, the delegation wanted Khasi to be included as one of the subjects in primary schools in the Khasi and Jaintia-dominated villages of Assam in order to protect their language, identity and culture.
The delegation also asked for land and funds for construction of Khasi and Jaintia students’ hostel-cum-guesthouses at Silchar, Karimganj and Hailakandi which will serve as ‘safe houses’ for the Khasi and Jaintia people coming to town for medical treatment or for official and educational purposes.