Shillong, Aug 29: The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) Chief Executive Member, Hispreaching Son Shylla was on Wednesday asked to tender apology for allegedly making discriminatory statement against people living with HIV and people from the LGBT community.

Barry Leslee Kharmalki, who represented the people living with HIV in Meghalaya told reporters that the CEM should tender public apology as his statements were found to be stigmatizing and discriminatory in nature.

Shylla had stated that the KHAD (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) Bill will also be one of the ways to prevent the indigenous people from getting HIV/AIDs while claiming that truck drivers and migrant labourers from outside the state are the “main carriers” of this disease.

Slamming Shylla, Kharmalki said, “We are not victims that he should symphatize with us. His statement only reflects that he has complete lack of knowledge about the issue. It also seems those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad.”

Kharmalki also rejected Shylla’s claim that truck drivers are main carriers of the virus and reminded that the KHADC chief that “HIV does not discriminate anybody, (a tribal or non-tribal).”

Referring to statistics from ARTC, Kharmalki said out of 186 truck drivers (living with HIV), 129 are tribal indigenous while only 17 are non-Khasi adding that truckers are not high risk group, they are bridge population in which they can bring or are carrier of the disease.

Stating that HIV infection is not due to mixed marriage as claimed by Shylla, he said that out of 3102 (heterosexual) people taking Anti-retroviral Treatment (ART), 2478 are Khasis while 752 are non-Khasis.

“This clearly shows that people are infected not because of mixed marriage. Therefore I still forgive Shylla but instead of stigmatizing people living with HIV, he should as a leader be more sensitive towards this issue,” he said.

President of the Jaiñtia Network for Positive People, Ridahun Ksoo said, “To say that the Bill will help prevent HIV/AIDS is not at all acceptable because majority of the people registered with our organization do not have partners working as truck drivers.”

Dona Marweiñ, Vice president of Shamakami, an organization that looks after the welfare of the LGBT community, expressed concern over Shylla’s insensitive statement that the KHADC do not recognize transgenders.

“We demand that he should apologize because his statement is absolutely wrong and discriminatory. If he has said this, then Shylla is disrespecting the court’s judgement,” Marweiñ said while referring to the Supreme Court ruling passed in 2014.