New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the home ministry for a report on the violence near the Assam-Nagaland border, in which at least 15 people have been killed in the last week.
Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju, will travel to Assam tomorrow to assess the situation. “It is a dispute between Assam and Nagaland. They should sit together and resolve it,” he said today.
On Tuesday, Assamese protesters clashed with the police in Golaghat on a two-km stretch of the national highway. The police opened fire after batons and tear gas failed to work. One person was run over by a truck during the clashes and 21 people were injured. The police asserted that no one had been injured in the firing.
About 10,000 displaced villagers have been driven to relief camps in Uriamghat, in a wave of violence by Naga insurgents last week in seven villages along the border, in which the 15 people were killed.
These villages have both Naga and Assamese people, but landowners do not have proper records. The border dispute began over 50 years ago over a patch of land claimed by a Naga and an Assamese land owner, when Nagaland became a separate state.
The dispute continues despite a Supreme Court-backed mediation process. The last round of mediation took place in Delhi over a year ago. A temporary pact places the disputed area under central forces but local people say they don’t feel safe.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his Nagaland counterpart TR Zeliang are scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the border problem.
Bureau Report
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