MUKROH: An outward calm prevails in Mukroh village along the disputed Assam-Meghalaya interstate boundary, with residents engaging in dance and merrymaking in election rallies as parties try to woo them ahead of the February 27 assembly polls.
Only three months before, the quaint village lush with greenery was the site of a violent clash in which five Meghalaya residents and a forest guard from neighbouring Assam were killed. It erupted after the Assam forest guards intercepted a truck transporting illegally felled timber.
B Lamare, an elderly woman from the village, said she wished the new government would resolve the dispute.
"Mukroh was never a part of Assam. We do not accept such claims of anyone. Those forming the new government should ensure there is no more bloodshed," she said.
Like Lamare, most residents maintained that Mukroh is a part of Meghalaya and wished that the issue was resolved at the earliest, and that such violent incidents are never repeated.
Political parties campaigning in the area also said resolving the vexed border dispute with Assam was their top agenda in the elections.
"We will bring a permanent solution to the Assam-Meghalaya border dispute if voted to power. This is our top agenda," UDP's Mookaiaw MLA Nujorki Sungoh said before addressing an election rally at Barato, 3km from Mukroh.
Mukroh falls under the Mookaiaw assembly constituency in West Jaintia Hills district in eastern Meghalaya.
The legislator said talks between the two states have progressed well but the dispute in Mukroh and some other villages was yet to be resolved.
In Mukroh, however, the violent incident did not resonate in electioneering as people gathered in front of trucks and minivans waiting to transport them to election rallies, with some breaking into dance as music blared from the vehicles. NPP, UDP and Congress held rallies in the constituency on Friday.
After the Mukroh violence in November, Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma alleged that Assam forest guards entered the state and resorted to unprovoked firing, while his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma maintained they had acted in self-defence, and to protect government property. PTI
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