Curfew was reimposed in Shillong on Monday and the Army conducted flag marches after fresh violence in the city, including an attack on a CRPF camp on Sunday night.
More that 15 CRPF companies have been deployed, officials said. Protesters, however, reiterated demands for relocating Sikh residents of Punjabi Line. Security has been increased around the area.
The Centre on Monday sent an additional 10 companies of paramilitary forces to restore peace in the city.
Clashes broke out again on Sunday night, prompting police to use tear gas shells to quell the mobs, a police officer said.
Protesters pelted stones at the CRPF camp at Mawlai, situated just below Jaiaw Lumsyntiew locality, a police officer said.
CRPF IG Prakash D. said three CRPF personnel received minor injuries and were given medical treatment at the camp itself.
CM chairs meeting
Chief Minister Conrad S Sangma chaired an all-party meeting over the violence and announced the formation of a committee to find a “permanent solution to the long pending issue” of relocation of sanitation workers colony from Them Metor area where the clashes began on Thursday.
Following appeals for peace from church organisations and tribal headmen of the affected localities, the size of protesting crowds has come down. A Punjab government team met Mr. Sangma and visited the Dalit Sikhs colony on Monday to instil confidence and defuse tensions.
“The Chief Minister assured security for the affected people and a sub-committee has been formed to look into the issues involved,” Ravneet Singh, MP from Amritsar, said after meeting Mr. Sangma and visiting the Punjabi Lane gurdwara in the evening.
After a high-level meeting with police and administrative officials Sunday evening, Mr. Sangma said the government has names of certain individuals who were providing expensive alcohol and money to the agitators to unleash violence. Police said some arrested youth confessed to have been paid to create trouble and that the agitators had been brought from another district.
But organisations such as Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) termed the stand-off as a public revolution and said people would return only after the Harijan Colony was shifted.
“This (relocation) has been a long-pending issue and the people have taken it up, not any organisation. It will become harder to untie the knots unless the government removes them,” KSU president Lambok Marngar told reporters in Shillong.
Transport disrupted
East Khasi Hills deputy commissioner P.S. Dkhar said the situation in Shillong continues to be edgy, though under control. The uncertainty has kept most commercial vehicles off the roads.
Several transport associations have suspended services to the Meghalaya capital after Assam-registered vehicles were attacked on Sunday.
“Business on the busy Guwahati-Shillong circuit has been affected since Friday, but we would rather lose financially than risk our lives or damage to our vehicles,” Nitul Das, president of Guwahati Drivers’ Association, said.
Apart from tourists, some 50 people from the Sikh community settled in Shillong are stranded in a gurdwara in Guwahati’s Fancy Bazaar.
“They returned from Punjab yesterday (Sunday) after visiting their relatives and the Golden Temple. They cannot go home to Shillong until things get normal there,” Pushp Paul Singh, chairman of Khalsa Centre, told The Hindu .
