Even two days after the clash between the majority Khasi people and the minority Punjabis, Shillong remained tense on Sunday. Curfew was imposed in the city and the Mobile, internet services were snapped to prevent the spread of violence. The clash started between two communities after an altercation involving a Khasi boy and a Punjabi woman. To this issue, the long-standing tensions between two communities involving the majority Khasis calling Punjabis as ‘illegal settlers’ also mooted its part.
As per the Indian Express report which they prepared after consultation with police officers, district officials and residents, the violence began when a Khasi boy who was on a government bus that was being driven by a relative was trashed by some residents of Them lew Mawlong. The assault was a follow up to an altercation which that boy had with a Punjabi woman. Some accounts say that the assault is a result of the parking of this bus which has obstructed the residents from fetching water from a public tap.
See also:Vested groups giving communal color to Shillong clashes : Meghalaya CM
The alleged altercation happened on Thursday which was followed by violent clashes the next day during which a mob torched a shop, a house and damaged at least five vehicles, besides injuring at least 10 people, including a senior police officer.
10 people have been arrested by the police in connection with the clashes.
On late Friday night, after some protesters set fire to a house near the Them lew Mawlong locality and threw stones and petrol bombs at the security personnel, the Army conducted a flag march in restive areas. Ratnakar Singh, defence spokesperson confirmed this to PTI thus,”Requisitioned by the state government, Army troops held flag marches and rescued about 500 people, including 200 women and children”.
KSU General Secretary Donald Thabah called the residents of Punjabi Lane as “trouble mongers” who often harassed Khasi people. He demanded that the illegal settlers in the area should be immediately evicted. A high-level meeting was chaired by Conrad Sangma with the Home Minister and he appealed to the people to maintain calmness and urged them to bring back normalcy in the capital.
The authorities fired shells to disperse a riotous mob when policemen came under intense attack in Motphran area of the city by stone pelters. A senior officer said that the police were attacked with petrol bombs and stones and also several rounds of tear gas shells were also fired by the police in retaliation. He attributed the violent spate of clashes to the fake social media messages of deaths that never happened.
While Punjab CM Amarinder Singh expressed his concern over the issues in Meghalaya and hoped that the issue would not see a further escalation. He asked his Meghalaya counterpart to keep in touch and offered every possible help to defuse the situation.
The Meghalaya CM later called up Amarinder Singh to assure the safety of north Indians in his state and their religious institutions following the communal clash. He told Punjab CM that no religious institutions of Punjabis have been damaged in Meghalaya.
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