Shillong August 1: The Khasi Students Union on Wednesday demanded that National Register of Citizens (NRC) update should be also conducted in Meghalaya by considering the year 1971 as the cut off year to separate genuine and non-genuine citizens.

The KSU made this demand during a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong and submitted a memorandum in this regard to Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma.

The memorandum said, “The state government should expedite a similar NRC exercise like in Assam so that people of doubtful antecedents will be flushed out of the state. It is a known fact that the first mass migration of outsiders into the regions of the present state of Meghalaya was in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War in the neighboring country of Bangladesh. The migrants were mostly refugees of Bengali origin from the then East Pakistan. Since then, the small state of Meghalaya had been witnessing excessive and unabated influx of migrants from different parts of the South Asian Sub-continent especially Bangladesh, Nepal and people from mainland India. The KSU observes that if such a trend continues unchecked, then there is a likelihood that Meghalaya will become like Tripura or Assam whereby indigenous communities are reduced to minorities within their homeland,” the KSU said in the petition.

After the meeting, KSU President Lambokstarwell Marngar told reporters that Tynsong has assured that the issue would be discussed in the state cabinet.

Marngar said that Tynsong has also assured the state government would strengthen the infiltration check gates in various parts of the state and speed up the setting up of entry/exit points.

Tynsong also informed the KSU that more temporary check points on national highways of the state that link with Assam would be set up if necessary in order to prevent suspected illegal immigrants from coming to the state.