Our members were unarmed, says union leader on Ichamati incident
SHILLONG: The president of Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) Lambok Marngar has dismissed the allegation that the student body was involved in burning a haystack and creating violence at Ichamati and termed it as misleading.
“If we have the intention of creating a ruckus there, we would have directed our cadres to arm themselves. Our members yesterday (Friday) were unarmed. No one goes to a battlefield unarmed. We did not start anything. It shows that the non-locals have started to show their might”, he said.
Echoing Marngar, general secretary of KSU, Donald Thabah said none of the members would have sat down to eat if they were involved in burning the haystack, referring to the food served after the meeting.
Marngar said, “If our fellow tribals are harassed, it is deemed as violence provoked by Khasis but if non-tribals are attacked, people are ready to provide protection and point fingers at the Khasis. Those sitting in Shillong should not make uncalled for allegations. The root cause should be found out as we were present at the spot and we know what the incident was like.”
HNYF leader Sadon Blah said that the government should immediately check the papers of the people in Ichamati and evict those who do not have proper documents.
Marngar said that the meeting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the demand for the implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) was held for the last two months by the four organizations – KSU, FKJGP, HNYF and RBYF in different parts of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills and it is part of the democratic movement of the four organisations.
The KSU chief said that most of the meetings in other areas went peacefully and said that the meeting at Ichamati also went well initially which was attended by women and children.
Thabah said it is unacceptable to blame the members of the organisations as they have gone to speak in other places as well and such an incident has not taken place. “In Ichamati, majority of the population are non-locals consisting of Koch, Hajong etc. We also came to know that they shouted Khasi murdabad. If the state government refuses to act in these cases, we will take our own action to clean Ichamati and bring back ownership rights in our own land”, he added.
Lack of responsibility by police
Marngar said during meetings in Shillong, police personnel are well armed with tear gas, AK-47, fire brigade whereas in Ichamati, the police personnel carried no arms while there were some who did not even carry lathis.
“The police department there showed lack of responsibility. We went there to speak about CAA and ILP. The attack by non-locals was sudden and they chanted ‘Do not demand ILP’. I feel that these are snakes that have started to attack the people”, he said.