KSU concerned at conflict between Khasis and Hmars

Special Correspondent

Silchar, June 9: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), Central Executive Council, Shillong, Meghalaya expressed its deepest concern regarding the plight of the Khasi inhabitants of Borokompi Khasi Punji, Barak Valley, after their areca nuts and betel leaf plantations were destroyed by miscreants, following the misunderstanding that erupted between them and the Hmar inhabitants of Rengma  Punji recently owing to certain land disputes.

The Union also expressed its resentment over the threats issued to the Khasi community by certain groups operating in Barak Valley, Assam.  The Union urged upon the inhabitants of Rengma Village to abstain from encroaching the cultivable lands located in Borokompi Khasi Punji as these lands belong to the Khasis of the said village since 1944 as per valid documents in possession of the Khasis of Borokompi.

The KSU through this press communique would like to ensure and instill among the victimised Khasis that the Union as a whole body will support them in whatever form necessary whenever they require or at any time or place as the Union believes that a community is like one living entity and if any part of that entity is hurt, the whole entity will be affected.

Similarly, the KSU would like to convey to both the Khasis and Hmars of Barak Valley to settle the misunderstanding and any other problems that might crop up in the near future amicably so that the brotherhood that exists between the two communities since time immemorial whether in Meghalaya or Assam is maintained. The Union also urges upon both the groups to refrain from issuing threats and counter threats as such actions might increase the insecurity that is prevailing. In an e-mail message to The Sentinel, this information was conveyed by Dold V Thabah, education secretary, KSU, Shillong.