JH pressure groups to take out march today
SHILLONG: With pressure groups from Jaintia Hills set to take out a march here on Monday in protest against the delay in the release of the probe report into the Mookhep firing incident, the Government on Sunday said that the fresh inquiry report submitted to it will have to be examined before making it public.
The volunteers of Jaintia National Council (JNC) and the Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM) will stage the rally demanding the state government to release the probe report.
It was on September 24 last year that two villagers were killed and several others injured at Mookhep in Jaintia Hills in police firing on a crowd protesting against the apathy of the government to address the concerns of the people following the NGT ban on coal mining.
After the incident, a magisterial inquiry was carried out by East Jaintia Hills Additional Deputy Commissioner S.S. Syiemlieh.
However, the state government rejected the magisterial probe stating that the report posed more questions than answers.
Later, the government in March this year had entrusted senior government official DP Wahlang to further probe the incident. Wahlang submitted the report to the government recently.
However, the pressure groups especially from Jaintia Hills and the NPP had been harping on the demand to release the magisterial inquiry report. But the government is silent on the demand.
“We will have to look into the legal aspects before we release the Wahlang report,” a senior government official said on Sunday.
According to the official, the Wahlang report will have to be placed before the government and proper legal opinion should be sought before releasing it.