GUWAHATI, April 18: Representatives of the Amri Karbi National Council (AKNC) have categorically stated that Deshdemoreah, one of the six remaining areas of difference on the interstate border, “is a tribal block under Sixth Schedule and should therefore be with Meghalaya.”
Speaking to The Shillong Times, the council’s chief adviser, Indreswar Teron, said that Deshdemoreah has, for centuries, been an autonomous area (ruled by the king of Dimoria) under the Khasi state.
“However, after Independence, instead of returning the Amri Karbis their land, the government occupied the area and now we want our land back. Under Assam, we are not considered a hill state but under Meghalaya, we will get our rights under Sixth Schedule,” Teron said.
He further said that the Assam government has not given the Scheduled Tribe status to the Amri Karbis, who were among the first of the community to reside in the areas.
“We are only considered as a hills tribe living in the plains,” Teron, who was one of the speakers at a stakeholders’ meeting on the border issues in Maikhuli on Monday afternoon, said.
Later, speaking at the meeting, the AKNC leader said that the border agreement signed by the Meghalaya and Assam chief ministers on six areas “violated Article 263 of the Constitution, which calls for a Constitutional solution to border disputes between the two states.”
“The land (in Deshdemoreah) belongs to the Khasi state which is a tribal area. How can the border dispute in the area have a political solution when the Statute underlines that only Constitutional heads such as the President can notify an interstate council to look into the border disputes,” Teron said.
He further said that a memorandum in this connection was recently submitted to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
