As some groups in Meghalaya continue to press for regulations on entry of non-natives into the state, 10 members of one of these groups were detained by police on Friday for stopping tourist vehicles entering the state from Assam. On Friday, members of the Hynniewtrep National Youth Federation set up a “check-point” at Umtyngngar, around 20 km from Shillong, and prevented vehicles with Assam registration numbers from moving towards tourist destinations such as Sohra and Dawki. East Khasi Hills SP Sylvester Nongtnger said that police received information at around 11am. After police teams arrived at the site, he said, they asked them not to stop vehicles. However, when the members continued with what they were doing, 10 people were detained and a case was registered, Nongtnger said. Meghalaya Deputy CM and Home Minister Prestone Tynsong said the incident was ”unfortunate” and that the state government “will not allow such things to happen again”. “Today they checked and said don’t go to Sohra, don’t go to Pynursla. That is not fair at all… if some innocent people wanted to go and see the Brahmaputra bridge in Guwahati and somebody stopped them somewhere… how will you feel?. These people are tourists. They come here to see, enjoy the beauty of nature that God has blessed us with. And then after that they go back. So, I really don’t understand such behaviour,” he said. Friday’s incidents happened after several weeks of different groups in the Khasi hills applying different pressure tactics to push for introduction of an Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in the state to “safeguard and protect the rights of the people and the state”. “This aspiration [ILP system] happens to each and every citizen of Meghalaya. Therefore, since the issue is not within our authority, we need the Central government. We have met the leadership of the Central government time and again, and we are going to meet the government of India. We will again impress upon them. And recently the CM met the PM and discussed these issues,” said Tynsong. There have been instances of “ILP check post” in Meghalaya’s Ri Bhoi district to “check documentation” of vehicles entering the state from Assam and to “check” non-local workers in and around Shillong for “work permits”, even though Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has stated that there is no system of work-permit for “migrant workers” in Meghalaya, except that contractors or employers bringing in five or more labourers are required to register them with the state Labour department. The Khasi Students’ Union has claimed that it has “pushed back” 2,500 workers “without valid documents”. During the course of such “checks”, there have been multiple instances of workers being assaulted. However, the KSU itself has distanced itself from Friday’s incident and issued a joint statement with the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), stating that they were “perturbed” by the incident. “It has been a constant endeavour of the AASU and KSU to strengthen friendly relations among the people of Assam and Meghalaya as both states are being plagued by the same problem of infiltration of illegal foreigners,” says the joint statement. Most recently on Thursday, police said that “unknown miscreants” threw stones and then hurled a petrol bomb at a house in Shillong’s Them Mawbah that had been rented out to non-local tenants. No one was injured in the incident.
