Guwahati: Fresh fighting broke out near the border while the chief ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh were in talks about border-related issues.
Tension in the disputed interstate border area has been caused by a group of persons in Assam’s Dhemaji district who claim that certain residents of neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh have reportedly encroached on Assam land.
A senior officer reported that Assamese locals claimed that some Arunachal Pradesh residents had walled off and built an agricultural farm on designated forest property at Panbari.
The official claimed that although some residents of the neighbouring state on Monday night attacked an Assamese family and stole their motorcycle, the locals in Assam had objected and demolished the barrier.
The officer added that Dhemaji police officers from the Bordoloni station hurried to the scene and that talks between the officials of the two states also took place.
He said that “the situation has been brought under control” and added that a careful vigil is being kept in the vicinity.
After signing the “Namsai Declaration” on July 15 in which they vowed to settle the border problems between the two states, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal counterpart Pema Khandu, the incident took place just three days later.
The two governments also agreed to limit the number of “disputed communities” from the previous 123 to 86 and to work toward a resolution by September 15.
The boundary between the two states is 804.1 kilometres long.
Arunachal Pradesh, which became a union territory in 1972, has a complaint that Assam was arbitrarily given control over a number of forested tracts on the lowlands that had historically belonged to hill tribal chiefs and clans.
A tripartite committee was established following the statehood of Arunachal Pradesh in 1987, and it made recommendations for the transfer of several Assamese regions to Arunachal Pradesh.
The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in this case after Assam objected.