Shillong, October 20: The proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) has demanded the Centre and State government to initiate an impartial boundary re-survey of Block I and II under international standards in full participation with the United Khasi-Jaintia traditional institutions.
“HNLC therefore asserts that Blocks I and II remain inseparable parts of Hynniewtrep. We demand that the Government of Meghalaya and the Government of India uphold the historical and legal record, respect the original 1872 and 1929 maps, and initiate an impartial boundary re-survey under international standards in full participation with the United Khasi-Jaintia traditional institutions. No administrative manipulation or political pressure can override the truth of our ancestral ownership,” HNLC general secretary Sainkupar Nongtraw said in a statement issued today.
He said the HNLC declares that Blocks I and II are the ancestral and legal lands of the Khasi-Jaintia (Hynniewtrep) people. This is not rhetoric; it is grounded in history, administration, and law. Colonial-era cartography and administrative records clearly place these territories within the United Khasi & Jaintia Hills administration. The United Khasi-Jaintia Hills Autonomous District, created under the Sixth Schedule, was established upon this very foundation, a structure that carries the political and customary legitimacy of Hynniewtrep governance.
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The outfit stated that British survey maps prepared in 1872 and 1929, recognized by the Government of Meghalaya, depict Blocks I and II within the Hynniewtrep region, not Karbi Anglong. The outfit claims that no record of Karbi administrative presence or jurisdiction exists in these maps, and the people inhabiting these lands spoke the Khynriam and Pnar languages, practiced Hynniewtrep customs, and paid allegiance to the traditional Syiemships of the Hynniewtrep Kingdom.
After India’s independence, the Notification No. TAD/R/31/50 and its continuation dated 13 April 1951, issued by the then Governor of Assam, attempted administrative reorganization of the hill areas, Nongtraw said, adding that these measures were made for temporary administrative convenience and without the consent of the Hynniewtrep traditional authorities. Such notifications cannot legally or morally erase the pre-existing historical and cultural ownership of the Hynniewtrep over Blocks I and II.
The Assam Reorganisation (Meghalaya) Act, 1969 later formalized state boundaries, but it did not and cannot alter the historical truth, he also said. The Act itself acknowledges the pre-existing cultural and administrative character of the Khasi-Jaintia Hills, the HNLC leader added. Any claim by the Karbi Anglong authorities that these lands “belonged historically to the Karbi Kingdom” is baseless, contradicting both documentary evidence and the living memory of the people.
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The United Khasi-Jaintia institutional legacy embodied in the United Khasi-Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council and the customary governance of the Syiems stands as living proof of Hynniewtrep’s unbroken authority in these regions. It is through these institutions that law, order, and culture were maintained, long before arbitrary political boundaries were drawn, the statement also said.
“The official position of HNLC is: Blocks I and II have never, at any time, been part of Karbi Anglong by history, law, or culture. The HNLC firmly and unequivocally asserts that these territories belong to Hynniewtrep by ancestral right, as validated by the British survey maps of 1872 and 1929, the unbroken historical continuity of our people, and the enduring will of generations who have lived and defended these lands. No force, no administrative manipulation, and no falsification of records or maps can ever erase or alter this undeniable truth,” Nongtraw stated.
The outfit has vowed to pursue this matter through lawful, organized, and disciplined political and diplomatic actions, including legal petitions, historical documentation, international advocacy, and peaceful mass mobilization.
(Newmai News Network)