‘Confrontation’ will not resolve border issue: CM

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sept 14: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today said issues related to the long pending boundary dispute with Assam can only be resolved through discussion and dialogue but not through confrontation.

His statement came after the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) Laban Circle had threatened to close down the Karbi Hemtun (Guest House) if the Karbi people and Assam government continue to illegally encroach and harass Khasi people in West Jaintia Hills District.

The Karbi Hemtun was inaugurated jointly by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya Chief Minister on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of a function, Sangma said that confrontation is not the solution.

“We are in India and obviously we have to work and discuss matters and live in peace and harmony. There are challenges, there are complications which we have to work out but it cannot be worked out by confrontation. Solutions can only come with discussion and dialogue, with understanding and trust and hence we need to ensure that we build that trust with our counterparts, be firmed with our negotiations and our terms, find ways in which we can accommodate each other and obviously in important occasions like these, these are trust-building measures,” he said.

He added, “So tomorrow you want to put up a Meghalaya House in Assam or Guwahati and if somebody says well you cannot do it, I don’t think that is a trust-building mechanism.”

“Yes, I am not saying that there are no concerns, there are concerns but to resolve those concerns, confrontation is not the solution. We need to work together to build trust and in an amicable manner move forward and that is what the message was yesterday (during the inauguration of the Karbi House),” the CM said.

Meanwhile, Sangma informed that the chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya will finalise a firm program related to the second phase of border talks, in the next couple of days.

KSU wishes state’s athletes

The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) today extended its best wishes to four local youths, who will be participating in the World Pankration Championship to be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Lozenza Songthiang, Francis RR Songthiang, Kyrshanbor R Songthiang and Nongkitboklang Songthiang will be leaving for Uzbekistan on April 30, to represent India in the world championship.

Leaders of KSU also met and wished all four success in the championship. This was informed by KSU publicity secretary Pynshai Rani in a statement issued here.

Committed to maintain religious harmony: VHP

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Friday reiterated its commitment to maintaining religious harmony in the state at all times.

This came a day after the Khasi Students’ Union asked the district administration of East Khasi Hills to take appropriate action against the VHP for alleged provocative acts by organizing a rally that has disturbed religious harmony in the society.

In a statement, the VHP said the organization celebrated Ram Janam Utsav in Shillong from March 30 and 31, April 1 and was followed by Shobha Yatra (procession) on April 2.

“The fact is that VHP carries out this procession every year and the Hindu devotees have participated enthusiastically. The programme was conducted in an orderly manner with full support from district administration, superintendent of police and traffic personnel who escorted the yatra for peaceful completion before the scheduled time,” it said.

“VHP respects the sentiments of all religions and has high respect for the indigenous people of our state. A customary slogan like “Jai Shree Ram” was made by the devotees. It is clarified that apart from “Jai Shree Ram” which is meant to hail Lord Rama, no provocative slogan was used during shobha yatra,” the VHP said while assuring that the organization is committed to maintaining religious harmony in the state at all times.

The VHP also referred to a report alleging that the Hanuman Jayanti rally scheduled for April 7, was called off by VHP as factually incorrect. The rally was not organised by VHP, it said.

Dymbur pays tribute to U Tirot Sing

Staff Reporter

Shillong, April 5:  “Dymbur”- a local Khasi folk metal band on Tuesday released its music video titled “U Tirot Sing -Unsung Hero”.

The song speaks about the freedom struggle led by the legendary freedom fighter U Tirot Sing Syiem against the British.

Speaking before the release of the music video, Dymbur co-founder Cornelius Kharsyntiew said that this is an important day for the band because of the support received from KSU to come up with this massive project.

Kharsyntiew said informed that Dymbur was formed in 2012 and in the earlier days, the band was a progressive band and its lyrics are always related to what is happening all around the world but the band switched from progressive metal to Khasi Folk metal in 2019 to take part in various competitions all round the world.

He added after switching from progressive metal to Khasi Folk metal, the band uses both traditional and Western instruments for music and in the earlier stage they received criticism as they were having difficulties in playing local traditional instruments but the band believes that music is universal.

“The idea of coming up with the song U Tirot Sing- Unsung Hero is to highlight the journey of our freedom fighter and we have seen many bands or artists who have contributed their music to U Tirot Sing Syiem but we have not seen any metal band from Meghalaya who have done the same hence we decided to contribute our song to our freedom fighter,” said Kharsyntiew.

Meanwhile, general secretary of the Khasi Student Union (KSU) Donald V Thabah said that the KSU has always lent support to anyone who has the talent to bring glory to the state be it businesses, music of any genre, sports, arts and culture or in any fields.

Thabah said that the KSU took the decision to lend support to Dymbur for this project as Dymbur is the first metal band to make a song about U Tirot Sing Syiem hence the KSU felt the need to lend support to this band as everyone knows Meghalaya does not have specific institute or schemes to help musicians.

“In Meghalaya, people are not aware of the date of birth of U Tirot Sing Syiem but people know about his death which is on July 17 and KSU has thought of releasing this music video on his death anniversary but the band felt it is too late hence we have decided to release today the 4th April as a mark of the awakening day for the Khasi community,” said Thabah.

Thabah said that this song by Dymbur will act as the vehicle to carry forward about the life of U Tirot Sing Syiem who was the king of the Khasi community and led a rebellion against the might of the East India Company or the then British empire.