Dr. Omarlin Kyndiah & Prof. P.M.Passah
Creation of Meghalaya and Khasi Hills
Let us recall that Meghalaya was initially created on the 2nd of April 1970 as an Autonomous State within the State of Assam by carving out the then two districts of Garo Hills and United Khasi-Jaintia Hills under the Assam Re-organisation (Meghalaya) Act 1969. The Autonomous State was formed without any deliberation on its boundaries. The boundaries are defined in Section 3 of the Act unilaterally and arbitrarily by the then Union Government and certainly on the guidance of the then Assamese government without consulting the people or the traditional heads of local tribal areas known as the Khasi Himas or states (Syiemships, Lyngdohships, and Sirdarships), the Dolloiships (in Jaintia Hills) and Nokmas (in Garos Hills) and not the three Autonomous District Councils. It may be mentioned that these three tribal states i.e Himas, Dolloiships, and Nokmaships extended beyond the boundaries unilaterally demarcated by the imperial British Raj excluding most of the flat lands all along the foothills in all directions for its own commercial interests and to serve its purpose of revenue administration and collection. The British Raj even included completely one Hima or state by the name Nongwah comprising some forty villages under an indigenous chief called Syiem under the Kamrup district and the status of the chief was reduced to a Sirdar although the incumbent is still chosen according to the Khasi traditional custom from the clan of the former chief. The then Government of Assam in 1969-1970 must have thought that they had nothing to do with these tribal institutions while the latter expected that their lands possessed and exclusively occupied by them before and during the British time, should have remained with them after Independence of India under the National Government; at least mention of the Khasi States does occur in the Constitution which adequately provides for the protection of The Scheduled and Tribal Areas since 26th January 1950 vide Part X, Article 244(2) of the Constitution.
The then Assam government had taken advantage of what the British Raj had arbitrarily done to these tribal states, Dolloiships and Nokmaships, and accordingly guided the then Union government to unilaterally and arbitrarily define the boundaries of the then Autonomous State of Meghalaya. When the Autonomous State was upgraded as a full-fledged State on 21 January 1972 under the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971, the boundaries remainsedthe same as in the previous Act of 1969 vide Section 5(a) of the Act. Hence the boundary disputes with Assam arose and remained unresolved even after fifty years. The former Hon’ble Governor of Meghalaya, Shri Satya Pal Malik was right when he commented that the boundaries could have been resolved at the time of the creation of the new State. It was not possible because the then Assamese government had taken an elder-brother attitude and ignored the rights of the people of Meghalaya; Assam would rather impose on these indigenous institutions as already remarked above.
Till date Assam has been covetously grabbing the border lands occupied, utilised, and cultivated by the hill tribes well within Meghalaya. It can be seen how the government of Assam took over the schools, the cultivated lands, and even a graveyard; and then they threatened and kidnapped an 85-year-old man. The Government of Assam forcibly built an outpost established a school and dug a borewell on the Meghalaya side of the border. Regarding the graveyard, a case is now pending in the Supreme Court. All this had occurred at Maikhuli and Pilangkata village on the Khanapara- Pillangkata sector of the border where the Indira Bhavan Guest House was constructed with due permission of Meghalaya during the 1970s which was now cleverly converted into Assam Chief Minister’s residence. And then the so-called Transit Camp of the Assam State Transport Corporation is being constructed illegally within Meghalaya. A case has been filed in the Supreme Court by the owner of the land where the Transit Camp is being built on the Meghalaya side of the border. It can be recalled that the Mylliem Syiemship used to exercise powers even up to the Dispur area during the British period. But now owing to enormous economic development in the said sector after Independence, the geography of the area has totally changed and warranted a new boundary line to be adopted. The VIP National Highway from Khanapara to Beltola Chariali thence turning left along the Basistha Road up to Barapathat will have to be defined as the boundary line. This suggestion is for the Khanapara-Pillangkatta sector.
As regards the Khasi Nongwah state, the Union government shall have to be approached for the transfer of the state to Meghalaya as the people of this Hima repeatedly petitioned the authorities concerned during the time of Independence of India for its retransfer within its parent Khasi Hills because it is contiguous to these Hills and because its people were linguistically and culturally belong to the Khasi community.
In the rest of Khasi Hills, no suggestion has been made here although it is well-known how Assam lays claim to areas like Langpih and other places.
The Case of Jaintia Hills
Of all the three tribes and the three regions that now comprise the present Meghalaya State, the Jaintias and their homeland the Jaintia Hills, have been the most looked down upon since the Independence of India. A large chunk of Jaintia Hills, the very small abode of the Jaintias left of their larger kingdom was unconstitutionally detached, transferred and mechanically tagged with the non-contiguous and truncated Mikir (now Karbi Anglong) Hills in April 1951, immediately after the promulgation of the Constitution of Independent India on January 26, 1950. Hence of all the three regions of Meghalaya, Jaintia Hills is an exceptional case in the history of the current boundary dispute with Assam which might be the first and only State which had violated the provisions of the Constitution of India soon after it was promulgated on 26 January 1950 in respect of Part –X (Article 244) and Part XII (Article 275). These two Parts of the Constitution along with the Fifth & Sixth Schedules adequately provide for the protection and fiscal assistance to the Scheduled and Tribal Areas in the country. But the then Assam government had politically meddled with the tribal areas set apart for the Jaintias against the provision of the Constitution and against the ethno-geography and geo-polity of the hill tribes in the north-eastern region hardly 15 months after the Indian Constitution came into force. The British annexed the Jaintia kingdom in 1835 and confined the Jaintias to their small hilly country as their primitive and ancestral home and this was duly ratified by the Constituency Assembly as per the Constitution of Independent India approved and signed on 26 November 1949 & promulgated on 26 January 1950. But the then government of Assam against the will of the people, detached a large portion of the Jaintia Hills comprising two Dolloiships (Nongphyllut & Ri Bhoi), one Sirdarship (Langsoh-Mynriang), a large part of Raliang Dalloiship known as Pangam Raliang, part of each of the Dolloiships of Shilliang Myntang, Nangjngi and Nartiang, which all-together consist of nearly half of the Jaintia Hills; and as stated above, the detached area was forcibly transferred and mechanically tagged with the non-contiguous and truncated Mikir Hills for creating the then United Mikir & North Cachar Hills District on April 13, 1951. Since 1951 and for the last almost 80 years the Jaintias have been demanding a re-transfer of these two Blocks as per the pre-1951 Map of Jaintia Hills.
In a conciliatory spirit, it is expected that Assam would restore the pre-1951 Jaintia Map depicting the home of the Jaintia tribes as earmarked and allotted by the British Government and ratified by the Constitution of India promulgated on January 26, 1950, and, whatever area left of the present West Karbi Anglong District be retained by Assam for attaching the same, if so chooses, to the Morigaon district within the Tiwa Autonomous Council because the Lalungs or the Tiwas are dominantly concentrated, more than the Karbis in the area. It is also up to Assam to create a new West Karbi Anglong District by bifurcating of the present East Karbi Anglong District which is quite a large district and which can still be enlarged by including the contiguous plains areas predominantly inhabited by the Karbis and as demanded by them since 1951.
The Untold Story
When the movement for the creation of a Hill State for the hill areas of Assam was gaining strength and support during the 1950s and 1960s, the Jaintia youths who expected that the pre-1951 Map of Jaintia Hills would be restored, hoped that the APHLC leaders would fight hard for such restoration. But their hopes were dashed to the ground as they saw the Draft Bill called North Eastern Areas(Reorganisation) Bill 1971 for the grant of a separate state of Meghalaya, etc. was ready and was being circulated for public information and opinion. They found the Bill that the boundaries of the new State of Meghalaya were the same as when it was an Autonomous State created in April 1970. A group of these youth met the APHLC front-rank leaders in Shillong to discuss the proposed boundaries of the new State as provided under Section 5 of the Bill. These Jaintia youths expressed their desire to remain patient and wait for the creation of the State till the boundary question would be defined appropriately.
But instead of thrashing out together the boundary problem, certain leaders were rather enraged at the suggestion and mocked these youths. There were other leaders who suggested that the boundaries could be tackled after the State was granted, which the Jaintia youth felt might be impracticable. The youths also believed and suggested that at the circulation stage of the Bill there was still scope to make suggestions for amendment and so far as Section 5 of the Bill is concerned , the best thing to do in the interest of the State and its people, is to provide for a Committee or Commission to be appointed by the Union government to define the boundaries of the State in relation with Assam after consulting all stakeholders.