Shillong Sep 14: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has ruled out confrontation to resolve the border dispute with Assam.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the chief minister said the pending boundary dispute with Assam can only be resolved through discussion and dialogue.
The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) Laban Circle had threatened to close down the Karbi Hemtun (Bhavan) if the Karbi people and Assam government continue to illegally encroach and harass Khasi people in West Jaintia Hills district.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya chief minister had jointly opened the Karbi Hemtun, on Wednesday.
“We are in India and obviously we have to work and discuss matters and live in peace and harmony. There are challenges, there are complications which we have to work out but it cannot be worked out by confrontation. Solutions can only come with discussion and dialogue, with understanding and trust and hence we need to ensure that we build that trust with our counterparts, be firm with our negotiations and our terms, find ways in which we can accommodate each other and obviously in important occasions like these, these are trust building measures,” he said.
The chief minister observed, “So tomorrow you want to put up a Meghalaya House in Assam or Guwahati and if somebody says well you cannot do it, I don’t think that is a trust building mechanism.”
“Yes, I am not saying that there are no concerns, there are concerns but to resolve those concerns, confrontation is not the solution. We need to work together to build the trust and in an amicable manner move forward and that is what the message was yesterday during the inauguration of the Karbi House,” he said.
Sangma said the chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya will finalise a firm programme related to the second phase of border talks within a few days.
