Expressing grief towards the loss of lives of six common citizens killed on November 22 along the Assam-Meghalaya border, five belonging to Meghalaya, the Congress has questioned the leadership of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also heads of North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).
K Therie, Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee chief condemned the latest killing at Mukroh and said that more lives have been lost under Sarma’s leadership in the region than ever.
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The northeast region has lost 28 lives under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma, Nagaland’s Congress unit alleged on Wednesday.
In a statement, Therie, asserted that Sarma, as the chairman of NEDA, is expected to rise above Assam state and contain peace and goodwill for the growth of the northeast.
“Sarma also is expected to apply his mind to resolve the interstate boundary disputes and maintain a peaceful atmosphere using the NEDA forum,” Therie said.
Therie said, under his (Hemanta Biswa) leadership, 14 innocent civilians of the Oting Village in Nagaland were massacred by Para troopers in Jorhat in December last year, a civilian traveller from Nagaland was detained and tortured to death in police custody in Assam’s Sibsagar in August this year and now six people killed in Mukroh.
“All the above situations and loss of lives could have been avoided with a little patience, tolerance and reasoning,” Therie stated, adding, that instead, the entire northeast is now travelling with uneasiness.
“Travel advisories are issued by administration frequently to avoid certain roads. Goods carriers travelling to the hill states are harassed even after check posts were removed. This is the new trend of life in Northeast under BJP,” the Congress leader alleged.
“All NEDA members are equally responsible for their inability to assess the situation in time and evolve solutions,” said Therie.
Urging the need for neutral commissions to resolve the Assam-Meghalaya border issue, Therie said the state authorities should honour the two boundaries– interstate boundaries for administration and traditional boundaries for the right of use.
The Congress leader said the Central government should also intervene by setting up neutral commissions to resolve such issues.
“Northeast people should seriously ponder together and make decisions for peaceful coexistence. If our leaders cannot keep up with time, either they should change their watch or the people have to change their leaders,” the Congress leader stated.
