Shillong Feb 16: Thma U Rangli Juki (TUR) strongly condemns the attack by Assam Police on the residents of Langpih area as well as the workers of MeECL who were in the process of putting up electrical poles for long due electrification of the border villages.
It is indeed unfortunate that residents of this area and many other interstate border areas have to face constant insecurity and violence owing to the inability of successive governments to responsibly resolve issue in these areas.
The governments on both sides ought to be listening to the voices on the ground and to work towards amicable solution which ought to pay more attention and allow the communities there to chart a workable structures of governance and development that ensures security and all basic rights for residents of these areas cutting across ethnic lines.
Border people need not be put at war with each other and be forced to choose allegiances to satisfy power centers. Border issue can be holistically resolved by acknowledging that borders are not impermeable lines on the map but are network of fluid inter-community relationships.
Border issues can not be solved by Winner and Loser framework but by acknowledging that border communities have be interdependent. TUR believes that a new thinking based on ground realities of multi-ethnic, inter-dependent communities of border areas and giving them access to development from all sides and protecting their land rights and resources from outside exploitation.
