A delegation of Shiromani Akali Dal from Punjab reached Shillong and met Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma later on Sunday. The delegation held a meeting with the chief minister and discussed at length about the prevailing situation in Shillong.
The four-member delegation comprised of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA from Delhi, Manjinder Singh Sirsa,representative of the Delhi Gurudwara Committee, Manjit Singh GK and other members visited the area.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
Later the delegation along with representatives of the local Gurudwara here, met the chief minister, Conrad K. Sangma and other officials.
The delegation said that there were rumours going around in the country that the situation was terrible and Sikhs and Gurudwara came under attack.
Gurjeet Singh, general secretary of the locality’s gurdwara denied media reports that the Gurdwara was torched or desecrated as reported in the national media.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
Sirsa said that he was surprised that things were not as reported in a section of the media, and the government was taking measures to control the situation.
“The problem was there for the past two decades. An amicable solution will be found on the issue. It will also ensure that nobody lives under fear and terror. We all need to ensure that peace prevails,” he said.
They also thanked the government for taking measures to control the situation and try to find solution to the problem.
Formation of a peace committee was also suggested during the meeting.
Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma also said that the situation is not a communal clash.
“The delegation that came from Delhi also spoke to a number of other communities leaders and gave us feedbacks that all have mentioned that it is an issue that is specific to a locality and not communal tension. Police are on the job and we are ensuring that law and order is maintained,” Conrad said.
On the issue related to shifting of the people from Them ïew Mawlong, Conrad said that the government has asked all concern departments, stakeholders to submit documentation that they have, and the government will start the process of looking into this aspect and call respective stakeholders.
“This is the matter that will require a lot of legal attention. Therefore it is not appropriated to comment now. This issue has been there for the past many years. Our government in the past two months has been trying to address many issues and this is one issue that has also come up. Therefore the government has initiated a complete documentation and take a decision accordingly,” he said.
The chief minister also denied displacement of people from the area.
On formation of peace committee, the chief minister said that such a committee is required because only through talks and dialogue, solution would be found out.
“All stakeholders, including the communities that involved, organizations and different groups agreed that we must sit and talk. Whatever situation that is there, we must bring back normalcy,” the chief minister stressed.