*Meghalaya's non-tribal migrant workers get quit notice*
http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=17496 By Syed Zarir Hussain, Shillong, April 12: Fear and panic has gripped non-tribal migrant workers in the northeastern state of Meghalaya after an influential tribal body served quit notices, asking them to vacate the state by month end or face action. "We are having sleepless nights and feeling greatly insecure after the threat. Like me, many people working here are in a quandary," Harsha Gurung, a middle-aged Nepali-speaking daily wage earner, told IANS. Gurung, originally hailing from Nepal, has been working in coalmines in Meghalaya since the past 12 years. The Federation of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Peoples (FKJGP), a group that claims to fight for the rights of the indigenous tribal people of Meghalaya, have set May 1 as the deadline for Hindi, Nepali and Bengali speaking migrant workers to leave the state. "We are not going to spell out what course of action we would take once the deadline expires. But something is going to happen and we shall throw them out," warned Emlang Lytan, president of the federation. There are an estimated 12,000 migrant workers, most of them working in the many coalfields in Meghalaya, bordering Bangladesh. "These migrant workers are a bunch of criminals who have been indulging in looting, murders, and even raping our tribal women," Lytan said. A number of other tribal organisations and individuals have backed the federation's demand to free the state of migrant workers. "The migrant workers are cutting into local jobs and unless we take stern measures now, things would go out of hand," said L. Lyngdoh, a tribal community elder. The local government has appealed for restraint and asked the migrant workers not to panic. "We are committed to providing adequate security<http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=17496> in the coal belt so that the workers are safe," a police official said. In the adjoining state of Assam, the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) in January killed about 60 Hindi-speaking migrant workers. There is growing fear that the indigenous population would soon be overwhelmed with an unabated influx of non-tribal people to the state. Meghalaya is a predominantly Christian state of 2.3 million people. The Khasis, the largest tribe in the state, accounts for about 879,000. The Jaintias and the Khasis put together make about one million. In November, the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), a constitutional body to protect and preserve traditional customary laws and culture, announced cash rewards to tribal mothers to bear more babies, aimed at doubling its population to two million. "There is a great fear that the Khasi and the Jaintia tribes could get wiped out if we do not encourage bigger families from now onwards and hence a systematic campaign has been launched by us," said H.S. Shylla, the council's chief.
_______________________________________________ assam mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
