By Patricia Mukhim
The lower Langpih (Lampi in Assam) border outpost.
The history of border clashes between Assam and Meghalaya is also a story of political apathy on the part of Meghalaya and bureaucratic activism from Assam. The two states share a joint cadre civil service.
When, for instance, a police officer serves in Meghalaya, he will do the bidding of his political masters in that state. The moment he is posted to Assam, he can do a 360-degree turn and undo what he had done in Meghalaya.
That, indeed, is the unfortunate story of Langpih — an area on the last fringes of West Khasi Hills, adjoining Assam. According to the Khasi chieftains, Langpih falls under Hima Raid Mynsaw or the chieftainship of Mynsaw.
The Khasi rulers have their maps and it would be political chauvinism on the part of Assam to state that this map dates back to the pre-Independent era and is, therefore, not acceptable as borders have since changed. For the tribes, land is more than just a commodity. It is a part of their culture. In fact, each raid or syiemship has its own set of rituals and customary and cultural practices, which include songs, dances and narratives. Each raid also has its own worldview.
People residing along borders are usually interdependent. It is difficult, therefore, to draw a line and tell them that they cannot have any interface with each other or should depend on facilities provided by their respective governments only.
Meghalaya’s cardinal sin is that it has not given due priority to the development of its border areas, whether those are with other states or with another country such as Bangladesh.
Border villages are deprived of most things that people at the core take for granted. What is galling is that politicians have selective memories about border disputes. They rake up the issue when it is to their political advantage and forget it the once elections are over or when they become part of the ruling conglomerate.
On May 12 this year, the border skirmish at Langpih claimed four lives and injured several others. The deaths were on account of indiscriminate firing from Assam police who were intimidated by the mob that ran towards the police outpost where a community that has been allowed to settle at Langpih by the Assam government, ran for cover after the brawl took place. Journalists who visited Langpih on that fateful day found it difficult to piece together their story.
There were conflicting accounts, claims and counter-claims, depending on who one spoke to. Communal clashes do not happen suddenly. They are the result of old hurts that have lain dormant. When you have a readymade tinderbox, it only takes a small spark to light a flame. That is precisely what happened at Langpih.
For years, the problem has been simmering. The Khasis and Garos residing in Langpih have been complaining that hordes of non-tribal residents are encroaching on their living space with the active connivance of Assam. This is easy because Assam police have a border outpost at Langpih whereas Meghalaya does not have one.
The last one was demolished by K.P.S. Gill in 1979 when he was DIG, Western Range, Assam. Prior to that, Gill was superintendent of police of United Khasi and Jaintia Hills in undivided Assam. Gill was obviously serving his masters in Assam when he sent the Meghalaya police packing from Langpih.
But that such a thing could happen and that people like Hopingstone Lyngdoh, who cry themselves hoarse about Langpih, should have allowed it to happen without taking cognisance of such a deception only shows how distant the border is from the minds of politicians residing in Shillong, the state capital.
Recently, Meghalaya home minister H.D.R. Lyngdoh and Assam’s health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi was away in the US during the time) made a joint inspection of Langpih. It is not known what exactly transpired at the meeting, but Lyngdoh came back saying that a Meghalaya police outpost would be set up at Langpih to instil a sense of confidence among the residents there. Hardly had the order taken effect and the outpost pitched up when Assam police protested. The political posturing on both sides of the border continues.
The Langpih killings have triggered a spate of protests in Meghalaya. Bandhs have been called not only by pressure groups but even by the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC). It is ironic that interest and pressure groups and a beleaguered militant outfit gasping for oxygen, should all derive their moments of fame from such incidents. But that is how the world revolves. Even political parties, sharing power with the Congress government, were about to jump on to the bandh-calling bandwagon when they realised their folly.
In March this year, the Assembly passed the Meghalaya Maintenance of Public Order (Autonomous Districts) (Amendment Bill), 2010, which says that any individual or organisation doing anything to cause abstention from normal activities by members of public, employees, disrupts normal life or does any act being subversive of law and order shall be guilty of offence.
However, this act does not preclude political meetings and other such activities where members of the public can express their resentment against the government. So the KHNAM, whose only legislator Paul Lyngdoh recently lost his ministerial berth, called a meeting on Saturday.
What is creating a sense of insecurity in Khasi and Jaintia Hills today are the quit notices being served on the Nepalese residents in certain areas of Shillong and in the coal belts of Jaintia Hills. A cowherd was set aflame in Ri Bhoi district. Vehicles and government offices also bore the burnt of public ire against what was perceived as government indifference and its inability to protect people in the border areas.
The Meghalaya chief minister, meanwhile, has written to the Union home ministry asking for a neutral force to patrol all disputed areas along the Assam border. It is learnt that an officer of the rank of deputy secretary of the ministry will be visiting Langpih on a fact-finding mission. At this crucial juncture, perhaps the only way out of the impasse between Assam and Meghalaya is for the Prime Minister himself to preside over a meeting between the two chief ministers and get them to come to a mutually acceptable solution. The people of Langpih have been suffering for far too long.
Not that they are the only sufferers. In February this year, the Border Guards Bangladesh fired several rounds at Muktapur in the Jaintia Hills and sent the villagers there scurrying into the forests for shelter. It took a while for the Meghalaya government to reassure the villagers to return to their homes. Similar encroachments, aided and abetted by the Border Guards Bangladesh, occur all the time at Pyrdiwah and other border enclaves.
The unfortunate part is that the intent to resolve the Langpih crisis is never sustained. Pressure groups forget and government gets its breather and things slide back to normal until the next conflagration. This time, chief minister Mukul Sangma has also visited the troubled spot and assured the residents there that the government would do its utmost to develop the area. One dares to hope that he will make good that promise.
Border disputes should not be the raison d’être for politicians to win elections. Nor should borders be the bureaucrats’ tool to secure other tenures after they retire by pleasing one state or the other.
(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)
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