MAWKYRWAT, March 24: Members of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), the Federation of Khasi-Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP), and the Synjuk Ki Seng Samla Shnong (SSSS) on Saturday burnt copies of the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024, in Mawkyrwat to protest the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 in the state and the rest of the Northeast.
Before burning the copies, the pressure groups held a meeting at Mawkyrwat market and raised slogans against the Centre for insulting the indigenous peoples of the region by not excluding the Northeast from the purview of the CAA.
“We asked for protection through the Inner Line Permit (ILP) but you give us a snake (CAA) to kill us all,” the president of the KSU’s South West Khasi Hills district unit, Forwardman Nongrem said, demanding the immediate implementation of the ILP in Meghalaya.
“According to the CAA rules, non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan will get Indian citizenship by using the electronic form. The process will be facilitated by the District Level Committee, which we know will be formed in the South West Khasi Hills district soon,” he said.
Nongrem said the people of the state, especially those living in the areas bordering Bangladesh, know that once the CAA is implemented, the non-Khasi people living near the Bangladesh border will help the Bangladeshi people enter India and get citizenship in Meghalaya and other states.
“This is a warning to the District Level Committee that if you dare to facilitate the entry of any foreigner, you will be responsible for any problem that may arise, including the breakdown of law and order in the district and the state as a whole,” he said.
Nongrem also said the KSU will fight tooth and nail against the implementation of the CAA in the state and will continue to be an obstruction for the government and the foreigners who enter the land of the Hynniewtrep people.
“We will never allow any law that endangers our people to be implemented. It is better to violate the law made by man, rather than violate the law and rights given to us by God to be the owners and rulers of our land so that we can live in peace,” he said.
Reminding the village authorities that they are the strongest weapon to fight the influx of foreigners into the Hynniewtrep land, Nongrem said none could enter any village during COVID without the knowledge of the Dorbar Shnong. He called upon all the people of the state, especially the Seng Longkmie and village authorities to stand firm against outsiders trying to reside in places under their jurisdiction.
Others who spoke at the protest programme included the president of the district FKJGP unit, Kenes Nonglait, chairman of the district SSSS unit, Wallambok Syiemiong, and the organising secretary of the KSU’s Central Executive Council, Raymond Kharjana.
