Shillong, Oct 17: The Hynniewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO) has extended its support to the demand of the Garoland State Movement Committee (GSMC) for a separate ‘Garoland’.
Donbok Dkhar, the president of HITO, said the organisation supports the Council of Nokmas (the apex traditional body) in their demands for a special recognition and who are part of the Grand Council of Chiefs of Meghalaya which include Federation of Khasi States for their support on the demand of the Khasi States, as per the treaty of the Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement which was signed and accepted by Governor General of India on 17 August 1948.
The president of HITO in his statement also asked all political parties to make their stand clear on the issue.
Dkhar said, “The Khasi States demand includes the 54 Hima/Elaka and 19 Elaka in Jaintia Hills including the Khasi villages, lands of the Hima which are presently under Assam state and Bangladesh.”
Citing the examples of states being carved out from larger ones, Dkhar gave examples of Meghalaya achieving statehood in 1972 and Arunachal and Mizoram in 1987. He also said that in year 2000 Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal (name changed to Uttarakhand in 2007) and Jharkhand were carved out of MP, Bihar and UP.
The HITO chief also said that Telengana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. In Oct 2019, Jammu and Kashmir ceased to exist (judicial challenge in SC) and two UTs were created – J&K and Ladakh. As such, he was hopeful of a possibility of new territories and states within the country.
“Because of these historical changes, today we have 28 States and 9 UTs. There is full justification for creating more states in India but in Meghalaya the HITO would like to be clear about the demand for a State, the status of which the Khasi States mentioned in the First Schedule strangely within Assam is a constitutional anomaly, and we will accept a new Khasi State only as per the Instrument of Accession (IoA) & AA in a special article in 370A so as to restore the National Assembly of the Khasi States inaugurated by the Governor of Assam on 29 April 1949 comprising 25 Chiefs, 56 MLAs elected from the Khasi States and 8 nominated (4 men and 4 women),” Dkhar said.
