Rabha students demand security in Meghalaya

Shillong, Feb 11 (PTI) The All Rabha Students Uniontoday demanded adequate security for members of the communityin Meghalaya and punish those involved in last month�s ethnicclashes along the inter-state border areas.

An ARSU delegation from Assam, which met MeghalayaGovernor R S Mooshahary here, sought a special exercise aspart of the ongoing census to enumerate the people displacedin the ethnic clashes.

"There is a breakdown of law and order in Meghalaya.

Meghalaya administration is totally silent with no actionbeing taken to prevent the atrocities against innocent Rabhasresiding in Meghalaya. The state government has failed todischarge the constitutional duty of protecting the life andproperty of people," ARSU General Secretary Jibon ChandraRabha said in a representation to Mooshahary.

The ARSU delegation demanded an immediate halt to thespiral of violence by setting up more permanent camps ofsecurity forces inside Meghalaya.

"A conducive atmosphere is needed for the freemovement of Rabhas", they said, seeking proper rehabilitationsteps from the Meghalaya side for the displaced people.

Demanding a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next ofkin of the victims of the ethnic clashes, the ARSU sought aninquiry into the riots by a sitting judge of Gauhati HighCourt.

The representation also claimed that 27 people haddied in the ethnic clashes, while 36 villages burnt down bymiscreants and more than 30,000 people of the Rabha communitydisplaced.