Mukroh residents face atrocities from police, forest personnel of Assam
Shillong, Dec 5: The Dorbar Shnong of Mukroh near Meghalaya-Assam border has demanded for a CBI investigation into killing of five residents in firing by Assam police on November 22 in 2022.
In a memorandum addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Dorbar Shnong urged the Centre to resolve the Meghalaya-Assam boundary dispute at the earliest and instruct Assam to stop all works in Mukroh area as defined by a 1968 notification of JHADC.
“We urge the Government of India to expedite the CBI’s investigation and resolve the boundary dispute to put an end to the suffering of the residents of Mukroh Village,” stated the memorandum submitted through Governor CH Vijayashankar on Friday.
“We are subjected to atrocities and harassment from both the Karbi underground and the Assam Government and KAAC due to the ongoing Assam-Meghalaya boundary dispute,” the dorbar shnong said.
It alleged that the residents of Mukroh have faced numerous atrocities and harassment at the hands of police and forest personnel of Assam and forest personnel of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) when they went for agricultural farming or cutting of firewood.
Opposing Assam’s claim over Mukroh village, the Dorbar Shnong said it was due to wrong interpretation of a 1951 notification issued by the then Assam government.
The memorandum also highlighted the illegal clearance of forest belonging to the residents of Mukroh in Salang, Mukroh, and other areas by Assam government and KAAC, despite stern opposition by Dorbar Shnong Mukroh.
The residents of Mukroh village have faced numerous atrocities at the hands of Karbi underground outfits, including the Karbi National Volunteers (KNV) and United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), since 2000, it said.
According to the village dorbar, the incidents include killing of six residents, including a minor, by KNV cadres on February 8, 2003, in the forest of Umlaphiah, Mukroh. The victims were Dik Sumer, Phun Hasem, Dia Myrten, Pro Hasem, Wen Samaiang (under 18 yrs), and Treibor Talang.
The dorbar also reported that the KNV and UPDS cadres served extortion notices to the Khasi-Pnar people in Blocks I and II and Mukroh, warning them not to cultivate disputed lands without prior permission. In March 2005, the outfits served an annual tax amount of Rs 10 lakh to the residents of Mukroh.
The atrocities forced the residents of Umlaphiah, Mukroh to flee their homes, and the school set up by JHADC was closed down and shifted to the main part of Mukroh village.
The Mukroh village dorbar has documented several other incidents of violence, including the killing of Tdan Shadap in April 2003, and death threats issued by UPDS to residents of Mukroh and Saba villages over a ransom of Rs 5 lakh in June 2003.
