Editor,
I was shocked to read of the resignation of Home Minister, Roshan Warjri on grounds that some policemen were killed by militants in Garo Hills. Does this mean acceptance of failure to contain militancy? If not, Ms Roshan Warjri should not have acted in haste thereby demoralizing the entire police establishment in the State. What Warjri should have done is to pull up her socks and that of the top echelons in the Police Department. She should have ordered the uniformed personnel to pick up all those politicians involved in militancy be it a minister or a chowkidar. She should have used her powers to block all financial routes that the militants are using and confiscated the assets of their kith and kin. We strongly demand imposition of the infamous Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Meghalaya and calling in the army to handle the situation which is now beyond the capability of the State Police to handle. We cannot consider the militants as our brothers and sisters since they have shown no humanity and have been killing people mercilessly.
Yours etc.,
Brendalyne M Sangma
Shillong -14
Will the Khasi linguists respond?
Editor,
The debate over the use (or uselessness) of the letter ‘G’ in the Khasi literature has been going on for a while now thanks to the initiation of S. Lamin Khonglah. I would like to tell Khonglah that I had long ago found a word in Khasi language containing ‘G’ in it. So my answer to his question is a simple yes. Of course words like Gatphoh, Gashnga, Gassah etc. are written with a tinge of English influence. But when pronounced by Khasis there is hardly any sound of `G’ (they all carry the sound of K). So I do not bank on such words, because while G is mostly avoided, it is introduced unnecessarily. When Khonglah poses a question whether I ever came across any word in Khasi language that contains `g’ in it, obviously he means containing ‘G’ either at the beginning like his samples above or somewhere in the middle. He has either forgotten or intentionally disregarded the ending letter, to support his argument. My simple ‘yes’ had been given at the very beginning of this debate with the word ‘preg’ containing ‘g’ instead of prek (with the almost snappishly hard and short sound of ‘e’), followed by two other sample sentences. I would like to add one more – the original word Heg has come to be pronounced and written as Hek, following the Sohra tongue if, I may be excused for that. Sometimes, modern people write it as Heck which again smacks of English spelling and pronunciation. So much about ‘G’.
I had initiated a debate in these columns on the detestable use of ‘C. It appears that Evan Pohchen has agreed with me. And so also many more people in West Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi District and in the whole of composite Jaintia Hills. So as my friends, Khonglah and Pohchen suggest, I fully agree that ‘C’ may be introduced into the Khasi alphabet, thereby giving the Khasi language better foundation. But we have to leave that to educationists and linguists. None of the three of us is a language expert, after all.
Yours etc.,
P K Lakiang,
Shillong-3
