Meghalaya: CM orders freedom for KSU activists

Shillong, June 28: Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang today ordered the Home department to release jailed Khasi Student's Union (KSU) leaders.

Mr Lapang's decision came after a Cabinet Committee on Public Grievances' recommendation to set free the arrested KSU activists and refrain from further crackdown on them.

The chief minister had also directed the state Political Department to prepare all the documents related to the release of the KSU activists booked under Meghalaya Preventive Detention Act (MPDA).

He also instructed the concerned department to release the other KSU activists, who were detained under different sections.

The government had arrested 17 KSU activists and booked seven others under the MPDA for holding the state at ransom, imposing strikes, office-picketing and road-blockades to demand the release of their jailed activists.

Most of the activists are now lodged in Williamnagar and Tura Districts Jail, Garo Hills.

The student's body, which spearheaded the movement against uranium mining since June 4, had been agitating in the Eastern region of the state demanding the release of the arrested activists.

Yesterday, the Cabinet Committee on Public Grievances suggested the government not to issue any directive to the concerned district authorities to make any further arrest in connection with the KSU's agitation except those, who are involved in criminal activities.

Reiterating its demand for unconditional release of all the student leaders, the Synjuk Ki Seng Longkmie (Federation of Women's Organisation) had threatened to agitate if the government failed to release the activists unconditionally.

UNI