Page 13 - English Tehelka Issue 12 - June 30, 2018

column Northeast

What went wrong for Sikhs • arson: Rumour mongers made a

mountain out of mole hill and cre-
and Khasis in Shillong? ated trouble in Shillong

tear gas shells to disperse the
crowd.
The curfew was imposed
News & Shillong has a reputation for being safe for women but the long night in several parts of Shillong
of arson in the city recently triggered mild consternation in Punjab
views because the Sikhs lost their valuables and household possessions while internet and textmes-
saging services were also shut
Bharat hiteshi down across the city to pre-
ventrumours from spreading.
he spark for the week-long tect the Sikh residents, and not give in to The Army was put on standby.
Hiteshi is an incidents of violence in the arguments of the protestors. The Army also fedand housed
independent journalist- downtown Shillong was a The Sikh Forum moved the country’s more than 300 civilians
turned-author and a lie spread through What- religious rights watchdog, the National from the “disturbed areas” in
political commentator. sApp, the ubiquitous mes- Commission for Minorities (NCM), in a thecantonment, according
The views expressed T saging platform, that has show of solidarity with Shillong’s tiny to a release from the Press
are his own increasingly become an unfiltered me- Sikh neighbourhood caught in an unrest Information Bureau.
dium for hate and rumour mongering. with a powerful local tribe. The Sikh Fo- Chief Minister Conrad
A scuffle between members of the rum, an apolitical grouping of communi- Sangma has assured his
Mazhabi Sikh community, long-time ty professionals, entrepreneurs, former Punjab counterpart Capt
settlers in the Punjabi Lane area of the military veterans and bureaucrats, was Amarinder Singh on the
city, and a Khasi youth and his associ- set up by Lt-Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora, safety of Sikh community and
ates over a local matter was the trigger. the hero of the Bangladesh war after their religious institutions in
But a fabricated story that the youth had anti-Sikh violence ripped through parts Sodhi said. Conflicting versions Meghalaya. Conard Sangma called
succumbed to injuries sustained in the of the country in the wake of then-prime Conflicting versions have ap- up his Punjab counterpart, Captain
scuffle led to large numbers of Khasi pro- minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination peared about what led to clashes have appeared Amarinder Singh to assure him of the
testers siege to Punjabi Lane, demanding in 1984. between the Khasis and the Dalit about what led to safety of Sikh community and their
that the Sikh residents move outfrom Its secretary-general, former DIG, Punjabis in Shillong. Some reports religious institutions in Meghalaya in
the area. The “Sikh settlers” have been Partap Singh, led a delegation to the blamed them on alleged harassment clashes between the wake of clashes that broke out in
in Shillong for more than a century and NCM in Delhi to seek protection for Sikh of a Punjabi woman, some on a row the Khasis and the Shillong.
a half, having been originally brought settlers in Shillong’s Punjabi Lane, also over parking. According to a statement issued
there by the British colonials to work as referred to as the city’s Sweepers’ Colony. The trouble was sparked by an Dalit Punjabis in by the Punjab government, Conrad
manual scavengers, and have since inte- Since May 29, the Meghalaya capital altercation between a Sikh woman Shillong. Facts are Sangma apprised the Punjab CM of
grated themselves within Shillong, has has been hitting national headlines who lives in the colony and a Khasi the situation in the state in the wake
not insulated them from being described following reports of clashes between bus driver over the parking spot for a still shrouded in of communal violence reportedly
as outsiders. The administration did well the Khasi tribe and residents of the Meghalaya State Transport Corpora- mystery triggered by a minor incident and
to protect the dwellers of Punjabi Lane Sweepers’ Colony that have left a dozen tion bus. Matters escalated later that tried to allay any apprehension of
from physical harm, but mob violence people injured, including police. The day, leading to curfew being imposed Sikhs being under attack.
persisted until a curfew was imposed Sikh residents are descendants of Dalit in the city. Sangma assured Capt Amarinder
and the Army put on stand-by. Punjabis that the British moved them On the ground, there are two ver- Board police station. The agreement, that there was no damage to any
Picturesque Shillong is no longer just here before 1857 as the colonial rul- sions about the incident that set off written by the bus driver in Khasi, Gurudwara or other institutions
an idyllic hill station; it is a bustling city ers expanded their footprints on the the violence. Some members of the stated that he had no hard feelings belonging to Sikhs in Meghalaya.
that has grown in an unplanned manner subcontinent. “We met the NCM’s Sikh Sikh community in Punjabi Lane said towards the Sikh woman and man The Punjab Chief Minister
and requires reforms such as zoning member, Manjit Singh Rai, in Delhi and that after a Sikh woman was harassed accused in the altercation. expressed concern over the develop-
regulation. But the agitators’ demand to requested the Sikh minority be given all by Khasi men, she and four other The fake news spread on What- ments and hope that situation would
shift the Sikh residents is unreasonable possible protection in Shillong,” said Lt- women living in the settlement beat sapp said that a group of Punjabi peo- not escalate further.
and must be resisted. In fact, the Megha- Col Sukhvinder Singh Sodhi, part of the them up. The Khasis said that after the ple from the colony had decapitated The Meghalaya Chief Minister has
laya High Court had stayed an order by delegation that called on the religious argument about parking, they were two Khasi boys. A mob soon gathered said that he is personally monitoring
the District Commissioner to evict the rights watchdog. assaulted by men from the Punjabi near the colony, intent on violence. the situation to ensure that there is
residents from Punjabi Lane (also known “The NCM member promised that Lane colony. The mob clashed with personnel no further trouble or fresh incident
as Sweepers’ Colony) in 1986. state and central authorities have al- Despite the competing claims, of the Central Reserve Police Force that could escalate tension.
To prevent a repeat of those incidents, ready been directed to take all measures the feuding parties reached a formal and state police, resulting in injuries
the government must stand by and pro- to safeguard Shillong’s Sikh community,” compromise at the local Cantonment on both sides. The police had to fire letters@tehelka.com

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