SHILLONG, Oct 21: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on Friday resolved to urge the Centre to honour the clauses mentioned in the Instrument of Accession that made the Khasi domain a part of the Indian Union more than seven decades ago.
At least 25 Khasi States had signed the Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement with the Dominion of India between December 15, 1947 and March 19, 1948. The conditional treaty with these States was signed by Governor General Chakravarty Rajagopalachari on August 17, 1948.
The resolution was adopted on Friday after a panel discussion on the Standstill Agreement, Instrument of Accession, Annexed Agreement and Sixth Schedule. It was organised by the KSU at the North-Eastern Hill University to commemorate the 34th death anniversary of Deputy Syiem of Hima Nongstoin, Wickliffe Syiem.
The panelists included former KHADC Chief Executive Member PN Syiem, its Executive Member Paul Lyngdoh, HNYF president Sadon Blah, adviser and spokesperson of Federation of Khasi States and noted writer Spiton Kharakor.
The panel discussion was presided over by former auditor of the KSU’s 1978 batch Vijay Lyngdoh.
Reading out the resolution, KSU president Lambokstar Marngar said the students’ organisation will submit a petition to the central government urging it to clarify its stand on the agreements and whether it intends to implement them.
The KSU president also said that the Centre will be impressed upon to empower and give special protection to the indigenous population of the state by invoking Article 371 (A) & (G) as was done in Mizoram and Nagaland.
Meanwhile, Marngar also said the Centre should immediately recognise the Khasi language under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution to demonstrate that it is the beginning of respecting the agreement signed between the Indian Dominion and the 25 Khasi States through the Instrument of Accession.
“We also demand that the Centre should immediately implement the Inner Line Permit (ILP) as per the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act (BEFR), 1873. The Centre has already given ILP to Manipur and some other states of the region,” he said.
He said the KSU has been demanding the implementation of ILP for more than 35 years as the BEFR was implemented in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region during the British regime.
Marngar said the Federation of Khasi States will find out ways and means to bring Daloi and Waheh Shnong of the Elaka in Jaintia Hills region on the same platform.
“We will also be communicating to the Centre that we have our own national anthem since we do not understand the national anthem of India. Rabindranath Tagore, who composed the national anthem, had made no mention of us. We understand that we were not part of India when the national anthem was composed in 1911,” the KSU president further said.
Paul, a former KSU president, advocated the need to rewrite history or become nonexistent. “We will make sure that the Instrument of Accession & Annexed Agreement (IOA&AA) will be the beginning of a new history which we are going to rewrite. We will ensure that the Centre honours this agreement,” Lyngdoh said.
The former KHADC CEM said that all the erstwhile Sirdarship under British rule should officially join the Federation of Khasi States. “We will then move with one mind and one voice to impress upon the Centre to invoke Article 371 in Meghalaya by inserting the IOA&AA in the Constitution. We want our own original Article 371 not the one from Nagaland and Mizoram,” Syiem said.
HYNF president Sadon K Blah said Meghalaya need an Article 371 which clearly mentions that the state became a part of the Indian Dominion through the IOA&AA and have a special status.
Pointing out that the Sixth Schedule can protect the community, Blah said it was the wisdom of statesman Martin Narayan Majaw who brought the Meghalaya Land Transfer Act to ensure the rights over land is protected.
“After the Sixth Schedule, the CEM seems to be the chief of the chiefs. Look at Hima Mylliem…there is too much politics…there are too many acting Syiems in Hima Mylliem,” he said.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Federation of Khasi States said the Sixth Schedule has no relevance as “our relationship with India is still not clear”.
