Shillong, Aug 19: Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister, Dr. Mukul Sangma on Thursday said no comments should be made at this juncture as independent inquiry has been instituted to probe into the alleged fake encounter against the former Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) leader Cheristerfield Thangkhiew in his residence at Mawlai Kynton Massar on August 13.
“At this juncture, I would expect the Chief Minister to be silent as far as this is concerned since we are asking for an independent inquiry,” Dr Sangma told reporters while also suggesting the manner in which Conrad should handle the situation.
His statement comes in view of the statements made by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma about the encounter wherein he had stated that police had concrete evidence of Cheristerfield’s involvement in the recent IED blasts in Khasi-Jaintia Hills.
Dr sangma said the Chief Minister should refrain from siding with any party till the inquiry is over, and that is expected of him; otherwise his statements could be misconstrued.
He said, “If it is an independent inquiry what is expected from the Chief Minister is that he should say that since the government wants to have an independent inquiry let the outcome of the inquiry ultimately tells us the details of the whole circumstances that led to the incident.”
Terms of references for inquiry
The former Chief Minister also stressed on the importance of terms of reference of an investigation or inquiry. “Any independent inquiry whenever it constitutes the terms of references is very important as we have to the terms of references,” he said.
Hr also informed that it is the mandate of the MHRC to suo motu take cognizance of this incident and have an inquiry. That is how MHRC works, even if the government doesn’t issue a notification.
“MHRC will do its job as that is the mandate of the MHRC. You may not like it, you may not want it but then they will have their own job done,” he said.
He further explained that MHRC will have their own terms of reference.
“They are guided by law, they are guided by those parameters which are considered as appropriately integrated as terms of references for themselves. They don’t have to be told by the government what are the terms of reference that are required to be incorporated when they go as per mandate of the law, as per mandate of the rules,” he said.
