Following Tuesday morning’s incident in Mukhro area in Assam-Meghalaya border where four people lost their lives in a clash between Assam police and a mob, the Meghalaya Home (Police) Department has suspended all telecom services in seven districts in the state.
A statement from the Home Department said that all mobile internet/data services of all mobile service providers will be suspended for 48 hours starting from 10:30am on 22 November.
Read more: 4, including a forest guard, killed in violence at Assam-Meghalaya border
It stated that the suspension has been imposed to prevent potential disturbance to the “peace and tranquility in the State of Meghalaya and for maintaining law and order”.
The Home Department further stated: “messaging systems like WhatsApp and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, You Tube etc. are likely to be used for transmission of information through pictures, videos and text, having the potential to cause serious breakdown of law and order.”
The seven districts where the telecom services have been suspended temporarilyy are West Jaintia Hills, East Jaintai Hills, East Khasi Hills, Ri-Bhoi, Eastern West Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills and South West Khasi Hills districts.
Read more: Second round of Assam-Meghalaya border talks likely by November-end: Sangma
Assam and Meghalaya have a longstanding dispute ever since Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1972 and challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971.
The two states share an 884.9 km long border. In March 2022, the two states signed a memorandum of understanding in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi for ending the dispute in six dispute areas out of 12.
The two states have also initiated discussions for resolving the disputes in the remaining six areas and were expected to meet later this month.
