After 3 tense days, semblance of normalcy returns to Shillong
SHILLONG: After three tense days, curfew was relaxed from 8am to 3pm on Sunday in violence-hit areas of the Meghalaya capital even as chief minister Conrad Sangma claimed police had found that certain people were funding the agitation.
While the district administration relaxed curfew for seven hours to allow people to stock up on essentials, internet services remained restricted. “We have found evidence of expensive alcohol being given to them, we have found evidence of money being given to them,” Sangma said after reviewing the situation with home minister James Sangma, director general of police Swaraj Bir Singh, and other officials.
“There are individuals who confessed to have been given money to take part in this agitation and they have come there as they have been given money.. .I must tell we are on the job of finding out where the money is coming from, who are those individuals who are distributing money,” added the chief minister.
Since the morning, Shillong Municipal Board employees were pressed into service to clean up the debris in the riot zone, following which vegetable and fruit vendors set up their temporary stalls to sell their produce.
Efforts were also underway to quell rumours and social media posts about Sikhs in Shillong being under threat. A Sikh dele- gation from Delhi reached the town to take stock of the situation and implored people across the country to not fall prey to such reports. The Amarinder Singh government in Punjab decided to rush a four-member team, headed by Cabinet minister Sukhjinder Randhawa, to Shillong, said an official in Chandigarh on Sunday. It will make a ground assessment of the situation and extend all possible help to the Sikh community.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa, general secretary of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee and national general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal and others from the team visited the trouble spot d and interacted with several families residing in the Them Metor locality.
“There are vested interests from outside the country who are trying to create this problem. There is a little trouble no doubt, but the Sikhs here are safe and secure and the state government is doing everything to ensure that,” Sirsa said.
Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju also tweeted: “Beware of rumour mongers and trouble makers. There was no damage to any Gurudwara or other institutions belonging to the Sikh minority in Meghalaya.”
Trouble started on May 31 in Motphran, a commercial centre close to Them Metor where Sikhs live, after a driver parked a public bus near a water tap and went for tea, leaving behind his two sons and a nephew in the vehicle.
A group wanting the bus to be moved accosted the boys and assaulted them following an altercation. One boy was injured and had to be taken to hospital. Later, a group of bus drivers converged and a retaliatory clash ensued. Police stepped in but matters got worse, prompting the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Peter S Dkhar to promulgate curfew in 14 localities. This infuriated the public, leading to stone pelting and attacks with catapults on security personnel.