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Meghalayan trail of tears
MEGHALAYA (INDIA), JUN 01 -
Physical strength and stamina is what coal miner Shyam Prasad Pokharel needs to survive in a profession like his. Living in India’s northeastern state of Meghalaya, the 60-year-old Pokharel descends a 200 feet deep pit using a jerry-built bamboo ladder to fetch coal boulders in a basket that rests on his back with the support of a belt that goes around his head.
Physical strength Pokharel had. But two weeks ago, when Khasi tribals started assaulting and killing Nepali-speaking people, Pokharel needed will power and morale too to cope with the trauma.
After the Khasis launched an all-out war against Nepali speakers, many people fled to neighbouring Assam for refuge while others like Pokharel stayed on witnessing the macabre drama unfolding. “I locked myself up in my room and kept remembering my family and praying to God for strength,” said Pokharel, who feared his turn would come anytime.
Lampih, a village on the Meghalaya-Assam border and object of boundary dispute, was the epicentre of the Khasi-Gorkha standoff. The incident erupted there on May 14 when security personnel gunned down four Khasis for trying to attack Gorkha people. Hell broke loose after Khasis started harassing, beating and killing Nepali-speaking Gorkhas in various parts of Meghalaya to exact retribution for the Lampih killings.
Khasi Students Union, which wields more power than political parties here, along with other student bodies warned Nepali-speakers to leave Meghalaya immediately.
“It was like the 1986-87 riot when thousands of us were chased away,” said Diwakar Poudel, a shop owner at Ladrampi.
Political undercurrent
Some see the May 14 Lampih incident as a calculated act with sinister political motives behind it. At the centre stage: DD Lapang, Mukul Sangma and Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Lapang, a former chief minister of Meghalaya and who is of Khasi lineage, lost the top job to Congress’ Sangma recently. Sarma, Assam’s health minister, apparently had a role in Sangma donning the chief minister’s mantle.
It is said that Sarma is after putting uranium-rich Lampih on the map of Assam. He has helped Lampih-based Gorkha people by building for them health centres and other infrastructure.
When Lapang lost his job, he plotted the Lampih riot to hurt both Sarma and the new Chief Minister Sangma. Over 1,000 Khasis from different villages poured into Lampih on May 14, beating up Gorkha people there indiscriminately.
“The incident was orchestrated by Lapang to show how weak the law and order situation has become after Sangma took over as chief minister,” said a Gorkha leader based at Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya.
He said the Gorkha people were being used in what was just a game of politics.
This is not the 1980s
Local media and those in Nepal covered the Lampih incident regularly and that pressed the Meghalaya government to contain the growing attacks against Nepali-speaking people. This was something that did not happen during the 1986-87 riot in which thousands of Nepalis were driven out of Meghalaya.
A police station has been set up at Ladrampi to keep law and order. “Police and village elders told us to stay behind assuring us of security,” Toplal Bhandari said. “The Khasis even urged our landlords to expel us but the latter stood their ground.”
Posted on: 2010-06-02 07:56
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