SHILLONG: John F Kharshiing, the chairman of the Grand Council of Chiefs of Meghalaya, has called for a time-bound constitutional redressal mechanism in the wake of the nationwide protests by Dalit organisations.
“The absence of an effective time-bound constitutional redressal mechanism within the Constitution is the root cause for all such democratic demonstrations which at times have turned deadly and violent,” Kharshiing said in a statement released to the media on Monday.
He pointed out that the delay in resolving the decades-old Naga Peace Accord, the Federation of Khasi States Conditional Treaty or Instrument of Accession, the faulty Meghalaya-Indo-Bangla boundary settlement and the Assam Accord “are a few examples of the political problems pending for decades in the North East” due to the lack of redressal mechanism.
Eight persons were killed as Dalit protests during a day-long nation-wide shutdown on Monday.