SHILLONG, Nov 27: The state government will set up police outposts in all “sensitive” areas along the interstate border with Assam. The process will begin with identification of areas which have witnessed skirmishes over the years.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong confirmed the government’s move and said that the police outposts would be set up in all areas where skirmishes have been reported.
He also disclosed that the inauguration of the police outpost at Barato village has been postponed owing to the prevailing situation.
Asserting that Mukroh was an integral part of Meghalaya, the deputy chief minister said the village does not come under the list of disputed territory.
Tynsong recalled that the documents submitted by the then state government to Assam in 2011 clearly mentioned Mukroh village in Meghalaya.
On the statement of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma that Mukroh was under West Karbi Anglong district, Tynsong reiterated that Mukroh was in Meghalaya.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said that the state government would examine the demand of the residents of Mukroh for a police outpost right on the interstate border and not at Barato village which was at a distance from the border.
“We will take whatever step is necessary,” Rymbui told The Shillong Times.
It may be added here that Waheh Shnong of Mukroh village Hamboi Sumer had asked the state government to set up the outpost right on the border.
Sumer had told The Shillong Times recently that Assam police personnel were able to commit atrocities and harass the villagers since Meghalaya police did not have an outpost at the border.
‘Mukroh a fallout of
unresolved border row’
Tynsong, meanwhile, said the unresolved border dispute was the primary reason behind the Mukroh shooting incident.
He was sanguine that the second phase of the border talks between Meghalaya and Assam should begin at the earliest.
He buttressed his statement by claiming that there was no tension in the six areas of differences which had been resolved in the first phase of talks.
