It’s been 50 plus years since Meghalaya was created out of the state of Assam but the boundaries remain contentious. The Khasis are an oral history people and most claims on territories within the Khasi-Jaintia chieftainship are agreed upon through the spoken word. In any case the idea of territory at the time was not within the purview of the present nation-state. Post independence states were created according to language spoken. Firstly, India’s North East continues to be a colonial baggage where boundaries between the region and its extended landmass towards the South East Asian country of Burma (now Myanmar) was drawn leaving out large swathes outside what is now India. The Nagas and Kuki-Zo people of Manipur have their kin beyond the designated boundaries between India and present day Myanmar. To those on either side of the international border a visit to their kin is considered illegal migration, an act which is punishable by law.
Along similar lines but on a smaller scale is the problem of those residing at areas bordering Assam and Meghalaya. While Meghalaya became a state only in 1972, the Khasi, Jaintia or Garo people residing at the borders have done so much before the Indian nation state was formed and even before the arrival of the British. But these histories have not been considered when the state of Meghalaya was bifurcated from Assam. Before granting statehood it would have been pragmatic for both the leaders of Assam and Meghalaya to study the map, visit the border areas to take stock of the situation of the ground and only after both parties agree to the respective territories should the two states have been bifurcated. But everything in India is based on political populism. A state was created even before its borders were realistically drawn. As a result we have repeated violence at the borders when one state decides to resolve the contentious border problems using the force of arms as had happened in Mukroh bordering West Karbi Anglong in Assam in 2022. Five people were killed on account of Assam Police firing on them on the plea that they were timber loggers transgressing into the Assam side and were selling it on the Meghalaya side. The fact that Assam Police is well armed and has a functional border outpost at the Mukroh- Karbi Anglong-Assam border while the nearest outpost on the Meghalaya side is at Barato which is 12-13 kilometres away from the border at Mukroh is also problematic.
The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) has rightly questioned the slow progress of the inquiry into the 2022 shooting incident by Assam Police. Why is the CBI enquiry not completed yet? Is “shoot to kill” a normal police rulebook? Also, what is the fate of the one-member inquiry commission, appointed by the Assam governor on November 23 2022 headed by Justice Rumi Kumari Phukan which was tasked with unravelling the circumstances leading to the death of five persons on November 22, 2022 in Mukroh, a village claimed by both Assam and Meghalaya. This is 2025, so why is a report dating two years earlier not made public yet by the Assam Government? The MDA Government has to pursue this matter vigorously and demand that the judicial commission report be made public.
