By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 16: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday said the process to hand over the Mukroh firing incident to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be taken up now.
“These are decisions that have to be implemented in full…The process has to be followed and the process requires both the states to sign the minutes of the meeting. Once the minutes are signed by the chief ministers, only then it is taken as official. The process requires time…even one comma can change the meaning of minutes,” Sangma told reporters.
He also said that he and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma have signed the meeting minutes and now, the official process of communicating the same to the commissions concerned and central government will be taken up.
Stating that there are other aspects in the minutes that both states mentioned, Sangma said, “We will see the withdrawal of forces from different states in different areas at a substantial level. I don’t want to go into details.”
In this regard, he said tensions will go down substantially in sensitive locations.
The CM-level talks between Assam and Meghalaya on the interstate boundary issues had decided to wind up the judicial commission which was instituted to probe the Mukroh firing incident and replace it with an independent inquiry by the CBI. The CBI will register the case at a neutral place other than Guwahati and Shillong to maintain the neutrality of investigation.
Meanwhile, talking about the proposed visit to the border areas, he said, “I am in touch with the Assam CM for our pending visit to Block I and Khanduli Psiar areas. Some elections are going on and we had to delay our visit. When the elections are over, we should be visiting. We are yet to decide on the exact location.”
On the regional committees submitting their reports, he said some have already started finalising the same.
“We will see how the process goes. After discussions with respective committees, we will take a call,” he added.
Six persons, five from Meghalaya and one Assam forest guard, were killed in the firing incident that took place at the border village of Mukroh under Mookaiaw constituency in West Jaintia Hills district on November 22 last year.