A year has passed since the dastardly killing in Mukroh where five individuals coming from the poorest families were killed. All of them were male earning members. The reasons for the killing are still shrouded in mystery and veers around the timber smuggling activity that somehow turned ugly on that fateful day. Mukroh borders West Karbi Anglong district of Assam and border skirmishes along the Assam-Meghalaya borders are not uncommon. That the Mukroh killings happened at a time when the chief ministers of the two states – Assam and Meghalaya were still under talks to settle the disputes also shows that the intent perhaps is not pure on the other side – the more aggressive big brother against whom Meghalaya is reduced to a non-entity.
Barring the VIP visit on that one single day when the killings happened, no VIP has revisited Mukroh. There is little that the MLA can do because Mukroh is a small part of his Constituency. Besides since the MLA is from the party in the ruling coalition -the UDP he cannot even raise the matter in the Assembly. Now if the MLA representing Mukroh is silent why should anyone else bother? What is most intriguing is that none of the residents who were witness to the killing, including the family members of the deceased appeared before the Justice T Vaiphei enquiry committee set up by the Meghalaya Government, nor did they appears before the panel headed by retired Gauhati High Court Judge Rumi Kumari Phukan which was constituted in December 2022. Although the Judge had come to Shillong to hear witnesses to the case, deposing before it, no one attended. It is not easy for destitute families with no agency to represent themselves to appear before such enquiry Committees where they are likely to be grilled. The local traditional institution and MLA should have empowered them to speak up and represent their cause.
Interestingly, the pressure groups from the side of Karbi Anglong appeared before the Enquiry Committee and submitted their memorandum to Justice Phukan. Why did the people of Mukroh not do the same? Are there no pressure groups in Mukroh? Now that both states have decided to hand over the case to the CBI both enquiry committees remain infructuous. This will be a long haul and a delaying tactic that governments take recourse to. On the compensation side, Meghalaya Government had committed to providing Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the bereaved families. The Assam Government had committed to provide an equal sum. But this amount will not take them too far. What is important is for the Government to educate the children of the deceased in good residential schools and thereby pull them out of the cycle of poverty. Charity too requires critical thinking so that it does not degenerate into a lifeless, unthinking dole.
