Headlines
Shutdown in Meghalaya against injustice with Delhi's Christians
Shillong, Feb 16
Normal life came to a
standstill in Meghalaya Monday following a dawn-to-dusk shutdown called
by an outlawed insurgent outfit against alleged "injustice" meted to the
Christians in New Delhi.
There have been six incidents of ransacking or vandalism at Christian institutions in Delhi.
The
shutdown call was also given by Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council
(HNLC), an insurgent outfit, also to protest alleged harassment of
truckers on the National Highways of the state and delay in submitting
the Mookhep firing incident report.
The HNLC, which organises hit-and-run operations from its hideout in Bangladesh, has been demanding a sovereign Khasi state.
The Khasi-Jaintia dominated areas were paralysed during the shutdown.
Shops, businesses and educational institutions remained shut while there was little movement of public and private transport.
There
was skeleton presence of staff at the state secretariat and central
government offices, and attendance in courts was also low.
Two
national highways - 40 and 44 - considered the lifelines for Mizoram,
Tripura and parts of Manipur and southern Assam, were also affected by
the shutdown.
However, government and financial institutions functioned normally.
"Attendance
of staffs at the state government offices was about 80 percent
throughout Khasi-Jaintia Hills. There were some offices which recorded
poor attendance," chief secretary P.B.O. Warjri told IANS.
Warjri said there were no reports of any untoward incident.