Dhemaji: At least eight villagers in Assam were injured on Monday after unidentified gunmen opened fire from the Arunachal Pradesh at Mingmang Badati in the Dhemaji district.
The incident took place along the boundary between the two states under the Gogamukh Revenue Circle. A dispute reportedly broke out between two groups over alleged encroachment by people in Assam by people from Arunachal Pradesh.
Miscreants from Arunachal Pradesh opened indiscriminate fire when the dispute was on. All eight injured were initially admitted to the Gogamukh Rural Hospital. Later, three of them were referred to AMCH in Dibrugarh in critical condition.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took cognizance of the incident. While Assam cops have reached the spot, Sarma said senior officials and police chiefs of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are in active discussions following the firing, as reported by timesnow.in.
The chief minister asserted that Assam would not compromise on its land and confirmed that additional police forces have been deployed in the area.
Assam shares a 804.10 km inter-state boundary with Arunachal Pradesh. On July 15, 2022 the historic Namsai Declaration was signed between the two states of at wherein the 123 villages claimed by Arunachal Pradesh were minimized to 86.
This is not the first time trouble has broken out along the inter-state boundary. Two Assam residents were killed on June 5, 2023 along the Dhemaji Lower Siang border. There have also been incidents of violence in 2021 and 2022.
In fact, clashes have been documented since the early 1990s. Later flashpoints included Bhalukpong in 2005 and Behali Reserve Forest in 2014 where 10 people were killed.
