Federation points out conflict between central, customary laws

SHILLONG: The Centre is yet to honour the Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement eve after 71 years due to lack of knowledge and understanding by successive governments and other stakeholders, said John Kharshiing, spokesperson for the Federation of Khasi States.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Kharshiing said the constant conflict between central and customary laws added with the folly of imagining that the Sixth Schedule and the autonomous district councils since 1952 would be the protector of the indigenous Khasi people have fallen flat.
“It has only divided the Khasi People when the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council was carved away from the United Khasi and Jaintia Autonomous District Council; its very objective of uniting the Khasi people was defeated when it got divided for political reasons. In fact, no political party or NGO had ever talked about reuniting the two councils to correct the anomaly let alone debating the merits of feeding a white elephant now that the Khasi Jaintia and Garo people have a separate state,” the statement said.
The constitutional anomaly vis-à-vis the Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement accepted by the Government of India and the 25 Khasi states is yet to be fulfilled by the Centre as this treaty should have been included under Article 370 of the Constitution of India, it added.
The lack of recognition of the customary land holding system of the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo people within the Constitution of India is another area of constant conflict.