CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG: Former Meghalaya Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Dr Mukul Sangma on Tuesday called for a collective approach to maintaining peace and law and order across the Northeast, warning that incidents of obstruction and lawlessness along the Jorabat-Khanapara corridor could affect the image of the entire region.
Sangma said the Northeast should be viewed as "one entity" and that negative incidents in any State could affect the region's prospects for investment, tourism and economic engagement.
He said the region had spent decades promoting itself as a destination for tourism and investment, but incidents reported from individual States could create a broader negative perception of the Northeast.
"We, as North East, have to come together. We must realise the strength of our own diversity, the collective strength," Sangma said. Referring to the impact of the prolonged turmoil in Manipur, he said law-and-order problems could influence decisions of people looking to invest in or visit the region.
Sangma urged governments to avoid "naming and shaming" individual States and instead ensure that law-and-order issues were addressed through established legal mechanisms. He stressed that individuals and groups should not be allowed to take the law into their own hands.
"Lawlessness as such cannot be encouraged," he said, warning that failure to enforce existing laws could embolden people to engage in similar activities.
He said the government and established institutions should handle law-and-order challenges and called for consistent enforcement of existing provisions to create deterrence and ensure that people understood the limits of legitimate protest and dissent. Sangma also warned that misinformation and unverified narratives on social media could give such incidents a communal dimension and called for visible and timely government intervention.
Turning specifically to the Jorabat-Khanapara corridor, he said people allegedly standing on roads in Meghalaya and physically obstructing incoming vehicles should be stopped.
"This is something which has to be stopped," Sangma said, warning that failure to act according to the law could encourage similar incidents in the future.
Also Read: Arunachal Police Officer’s ‘Fireside Tales’ Preserves Local Stories, Heritage