Shillong, Aug 27: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) wanted the state government to provide arms to the people in the inter-state border areas if it cannot deploy adequate police personnel.
The response is after a video of state police personnel fleeing after being attacked by Karbi people with catapults, has surfaced.
“We demand the state government to deploy hundreds of police personnel in every police outpost and border police outpost along with arms and ammunition and to direct them to use teargas, lathi charge and even open fire if needed to protect our land and the people in the border,” HYC general secretary Roykupar Synrem said in a statement.
“If the state government does not dare to deploy adequate security personnel, we demand that it would be better for the government to provide arms and ammunition and other weapons to the people in the border so that they can defend and protect their lives and property because as it is, police cannot be trusted anymore with this task,” he said
“We also want to ask the home minister of the state whether the cement factories are more important for the government than the people residing along the inter-state border? Why did the government deploy only 10-15 police personnel at Khanduli sector but over 50-60 police personnel to protect the cement company, responsible for environment degradation? Why did the government order the police to protect the cement companies by using teargas and resort to lathi charge against protesters including women but fail to issue similar order to the police personnel deployed at Lapangap?” Synrem said.
According to Synrem, the government is answerable to all these incidents. “Whether the police fled away because of lack of manpower or because no order has come from the top to take action against the Karbi people, who attempted to murder the police and the people in the border,” Synrem said.
