Residents of Umwali village in Langpih area of West Khasi hills district in Meghalaya registered strong protest against the Assam Police’s alleged attempt to set up a new outpost.
The tribal villagers alleged that a group of Assam Police personnel had forcefully entered Umwali village (in Meghalaya) on Wednesday and were trying to set up a outpost.
People of the area, along with village Dorbar and Hynñiewtrep Youth Council (HYC) Rimuliang unit came out to protest against the move by Assam Police personnel.
The villagers along with the HYC members assembled in the area the whole night to prevent the move of Assam police to capture the land at Umwali.
Tailan Syiemlieh, a local villager said they were shocked to see Assam Police personnel trying to set up a outpost on the private land of one of the villagers at Umwali.
“We tried our best to stop the Assam Police personnel to set up the outpost in our village,” Syiemlieh said, adding that the land belonged to the tribals of Meghalaya.
The villagers informed Meghalaya Police, and a team rushed to the spot from Langpih, and tried to bring the situation under control.
A video on the incident at Umwali has gone viral on the social media, and people in Meghalaya have started commenting against the act of Assam Police personnel.
It was seen in the video that one Assam Police personnel was threatening a Khasi (lady) villager.
“This has become dangerous as Assam Police personnel always threaten us,” Kwissina Hoojon, a local villager, said.
The HYC urged the state government to intervene so that problem should not occur and peace must prevail since the land belonged to the Khasi people of Meghalaya.
This was second such incident at Umwali village during the last one year.
On February 14, last year, Assam Police personnel had attacked a group of villagers at Unwali village.
Several tribal villagers, including 28 women, were injured in the attack.
