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Probe ordered into Jaintia Hills firing

By Raju Das

SHILLONG, Sept 25 � The East Jaintia Hills district in Meghalaya continued to be tense, but under control today after two persons were shot dead and five injured in police firing yesterday.

State Home Minister Roshan Warjri said a magisterial inquiry headed by ADM West Jaintia Hills SS Syiemlieh has been instituted.

�The ADM would probe into the cause of the incident which led to the deaths. Moreover, the DGP has been asked to submit a report into the incident separately,� she said.

Warjri said that the situation in the district is slowly limping back to normalcy. However, Deputy Commissioner East Jaintia Hills T Dkhar said, �The situation is tense but under control. The post mortem reports of the deceased have been completed,�

The State police have sought the assistance of BSF to control the law and order situation there. Yesterday, two persons were killed and five were injured in police firing after a mob turned violent and pelted stones on vehicles plying on National Highway 44. The mob was obstructing the movement of vehicles as part of the economic strike sponsored by the Movement of Indigenous Peoples Rights and Livelihood (MIPRL), which is an organisation of stakeholders of the coal mining industry. The organisation has called the strike after the State Government �did not respond� to its 10-point demand.

The deceased have been identified as Setmon Phawa (35) and Dinesh Siangshai (30) from Wapungskur village, police said. The injured, who sustained bullet wounds, have been shifted to Jowai civil hospital.

The MIPRL has expressed shock and dismay over the incident and has demanded judicial inquiry into the incident. The State Government today announced an ex-gratia of Rs 3 lakh to the next of kin of the victims, while assuring a proper inquiry into the incident.

It also sought the BSF�s assistance in controlling the situation in the districts, so two companies of the BSF have moved away from its counter-insurgency operations in West Khasi Hills and would be assisting the State police in Jaintia Hills. The companies could not move into the district yesterday due to the road-block and has today garrisoned itself at Khliehriat.

DIG, SK Singh BSF�s Meghalaya frontier said that they would be working in close coordination with the State police and try to bring the law and order situation under control.

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