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A clash erupted between protesters from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday, during which the Arunachal Pradesh Police fired in the air to control the mob on their side, PTI reported.
The confrontation occurred in Dhemaji district of Assam, a day after a student organisation of the state’s Mising community, along with other local groups, launched an indefinite economic blockade against Arunachal Pradesh.
The blockade was imposed in response to the firing allegedly carried out by “miscreants” from Arunachal Pradesh that injured 12 persons from Assam on Monday, PTI quoted unidentified police officials as saying.
The clash on Monday had erupted after a dispute in connection with alleged land encroachment by people from Arunachal Pradesh in Assam, police had said.
“When the blockade was going on, some people from Arunachal Pradesh indulged in stone pelting on protesters from Assam”, PTI quoted an unidentified Assam government official as saying. Some persons also sustained injuries, leading to the scuffle, the official said.
The Arunachal Pradesh Police then fired three rounds in the air to control the mob, the official added.
All vehicles coming from and going to Arunachal Pradesh, except emergency and school transportation, are being stopped at entry points as part of the economic blockade launched by student organisation Takam Mising Porin Kebang and other groups, the news agency reported.
The groups are demanding that the long-pending Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary dispute be settled at the earliest, action be taken against those responsible for the firing on Monday, and an end to the alleged encroachment of Assam’s land.
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804.1-km border with 1,200 points of dispute. The two states have set up 12 regional committees to address the border disputes.
On July 15, 2022, the chief ministers of both states had signed the Namsai Declaration, paving the way for steps to settle differences over 123 villages claimed by Arunachal Pradesh. They subsequently signed a memorandum of understanding on the dispute on April 20, 2023.
CMs call for peace
The chief ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Pema Khandu, on Thursday called for the resolution of the ongoing dispute through dialogue.
In a social media post, Sarma said that most border differences with Arunachal Pradesh had been settled in recent years through dialogue and friendship. He added that only 52 villages remained under dispute and said the two governments would continue talks in the same spirit to reach a complete resolution.
Khandu said that both the states share a “deep bond of history, friendship and brotherhood”.
“Let us not allow differences to overshadow the strong bonds that unite our people,” he added.
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
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