Shillong back on edge, Sikh delegation meets CM
SHILLONG: The capital of Meghalaya remained on the edge for the fourth straight day on Monday, and saw at least two incidents of mob violence and prompting the Army to conduct a flag march even as the Union home ministry rushed an 15 additional companies of central paramilitary forces to the city.
Sparked by a dispute between a Khasi bus driver and Dalit Sikh woman in Theme lew Mawlong, a Punjabi settlement with around 350 households, and amplified by rumours on social media and messaging platforms, the violence has exposed the rift between the two communities.
Protesters have also targeted the police and security forces trying to keep the peace. Around 100 security personnel, including three Central Reserve Police Force (CPRF) personnel and about 50 locals have been injured in the sporadic incidents of violence, police said.
On Monday afternoon, security forces fired tear gas shells and stun grenades at a 1000strong crowd that was pelting stones at them near Motphran, one of the nerve centres of the clashes in the heart of the capital.
With relations between the Dalit Sikhs, who moved to the state in the late 19th century, and the locals taking a turn for the worse, the latter have started reiterating a long-time demand that the former move their colony from its current location in the centre of the city to the outskirts.
In another incident on Monday, a group of protesters evaded the police and entered areas around the state secretariat, following which the army, around 200 armed soldiers from the HQ 101 Area, conducted a flag march.
Deputy commissioner of police, East Khasi Hills, Peter S Dkhar said. “Curfew has been imposed from 4 pm on Monday to 5 am Tuesday in Shillong as there is likelihood that breach of peace may spread to other parts of the city.” Chief minister Conrad Sangma held an all-party meeting on Monday to discuss the situation and briefed opposition leaders about the steps being taken to bring the situation under control.
The CM also met a four-member team from Punjab, which arrived in Shillong on Monday to assess the situation. The team was led by Punjab jail minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who stressed that members of the Sikh community living in the city’s Punjabi Line were “safe”
MINORITIES PANEL TO PROBE CLASHES
The National Commission for Minorities will send a member to the Meghalaya capital Shillong to investigate the clashes. The panel has decided to send its member Manjit Singh Rai from Punjab to Shillong to assess the situation, said NCM chairperson Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi.