Pressure group slams USTM's move to aid Assam eviction-hit kids, cites security concerns

Shillong, July 29: A pressure group on Monday opposed University of Science and Technology Meghalaya’s (USTM) decision to rehabilitate and provide educational support to children affected by the eviction drive in Assam, stating it has “national security implications”.

Expressing strong reservations over USTM’s controversial decision, the Hynniewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO) submitted a memorandum to USTM chancellor, Mahbubul Hoque.

HITO said the decision has “national security ramifications considering the current geopolitical tensions, including increased infiltration along the India-Bangladesh border”.

The organisation said UTSM and other institutions in the Northeast must act with heightened caution. “The Northeast and Meghalaya in particular, must not become the soft underbelly through which undocumented migration is legitimised under the veil of humanitarian outreach,” HITO added.

The organisation said USTM is trying to support “part of a population of illegal immigrants and individuals with no legitimate claim to domicile in Meghalaya or elsewhere in the Indian Union”.

“Facilitating their integration into our State’s educational framework is not a benign act of charity; it is a move with far-reaching social and political consequences,” it said.

HITO clarified that it is not opposed to education or child welfare, but the “concern stems from the deliberate normalization of illegality under the guise of benevolence”.

“Such gestures inadvertently set a precedent that opens the door to long-term settlement, the procurement of residential or domicile certificates, and eventually, legal and political claims that erode the indigenous rights of the people of Meghalaya,” the memorandum added.