Shillong, March 17: The Khasi-Pnar population in Assam's Barak Valley is seeking 'constitutional protection'.
The emphasis was made at the general conference of the Barak Valley Khasi Jaintia Welfare Organisation (BVKJWO) held recently in Silchar. The Khasi-Pnars are not recognised as Scheduled Tribes in Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi and other districts of Assam except in the scheduled areas of Dima Hasao (erstwhile North Cachar Hills) and Bodoland Autonomous Council.
The nearly two lakh population of the Khasi Pnar people in the Barak Valley is spread across over 300 villages in Hailakandi, Karimganj and Cachar.
At the conference, BVKJWO leaders presented a report where the organisation's activities mostly related to resolving the problems of discrimination, suppression and criminal activities perpetrated by the dominant communities upon the Khasi-Pnar people.
Speaking at the conference, BVKJWO secretary-general Sebastian Pakyntein charged the Assam government with 'gross violation of fundamental rights', and warned that if corrective measures were not initiated, the organisation would resort to an agitation.
North Eastern Indigenous Indian Mongolian Peoples' Cultural Organisation (NEIIMPCO) general secretary Morningstar Sumer lamented the lack of historical records pertaining to the Khasi-Pnar people in the Barak Valley, which has led to severe discrimination of their basic human rights while the lackadaisical attitude of the authority has further burdened the people.
He called on the people to unite and other tribal communities of the area to fight collectively for their legitimate rights.
Former IAS officer Jones Ingti Kathar, who is also the coordinator of NEIIMPCO, blamed the people for most of the problems they face. 'The problem of the indigenous people is self-created because of infighting among the small communities, which made the authorities curb and control law and order problems in the area and deviate from development work,' he said.
Kathar urged the people to express dissent over their problems within the framework of the law, and appealed to them not to resort to violence.
Last year, a delegation of the Khasi Jaintia Development Council Demand Committee met Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram in New Delhi to demand Scheduled Tribe status for the Khasi and Jaintia people living in Assam.
The committee also sought the creation of the Khasi and Jaintia Development Council and the Khasi and Jaintia Village Council.
It had also sought nomination of two members, to be elected by the communities, to the proposed Vidhan Parishad of the Assam government, from among the Khasi and Jaintia communities in Assam.
At the same time, the committee had wanted Khasi to be included as one of the subjects in primary schools in the Khasi and Jaintia-dominated villages of Assam in order to protect their language, identity and culture.
