The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council has constituted a coordination committee to prepare the ground for the matter.
The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council has constituted a coordination committee to prepare the ground for the matter.
An autonomous tribal council in Meghalaya has formed a coordination committee to prepare the ground for challenging the partial Border settlement with Assam in court,
The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) on Tuesday constituted the committee with representatives of five traditional Khasi tribal states named Hima. Each of these Hima has areas bordering Assam.
KHADC is one of the three tribe-based councils in Meghalaya. The other two are Garo Hills Autonomous District Council and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council.
Once our Boundary Panel studies the Coordination Committee report, the council will file a petition in the court opposing the MoU to settle six of the 12 disputed areas on the Assam-Meghalaya border. KHADC said.
“We have to seek a solution from the court as the state government is adamant on not reviewing the border deal,” he said.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart, Conrad K. Sangma, was signed the agreement To settle a border dispute in six “less complex” areas on 29 January. The Center gave its assent to the agreement after two months.
The deal was done on a “take-and-take” formula, which divided the disputed territories into about fifty-fifty between the two states. Unhappy with the deal, pro-Meghalaya villagers along the border have been holding regular protests.
Mr. Sayem said the National People’s Party-led Meghalaya government sealed the border agreement with Assam without taking into account the recommendations of the KHADC. “There are many loopholes in the agreement and historical facts have been ignored,” he said.
Meghalaya was carved out of Assam, first as an autonomous state in 1970 and then as a state in 1972. According to KHADC, the boundary deal bypasses the Assam Reorganization Act of 1965 and the North East Reorganization Act of 1971.
The United Democratic Party, the largest of the NPP’s coalition partners, has also expressed its displeasure over the boundary agreement. Its president, Metbah Lyngdoh, said he would discuss the issue with Mr. Sangma.
“I will discuss the border issue with them but it is up to them and their government to investigate the matter and address the concerns raised by various groups,” he said.