Guwahati: In a path-breaking decision, the Assam government will provide arms licence to indigenous people living in “vulnerable and remote” areas.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the decision, taken at a state cabinet meeting, will be applicable for those in Muslim-majority districts — Dhubri, Nagaon, Morigaon, Barpeta, South Salmara and Goalpara.
It will instil a sense of security in the people in those districts, Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday. Muslims are in majority in 11 of the 35 districts in Assam, of which four share borders with Bangladesh.
“It’s a very important and sensitive decision. Indigenous people in some areas have been feeling insecure, especially in the wake of recent developments in Bangladesh (where Hindus were targeted) … In this backdrop, the cabinet decided that indigenous people in such vulnerable areas will be given arms licence,” the chief minister explained, adding that Assamese people have been demanding arms licence for a long time.
After all these years, the cabinet approved the special scheme to grant arms licence to original inhabitants and Indian indigenous citizens in vulnerable and remote areas of Assam.
“The government will be lenient in giving licences to eligible people, who have to be original inhabitants and must belong to the indigenous community living in vulnerable and remote areas of the state,” Biswa Sarma said.
The state government will only give licence to eligible people, not help buy arms, clarified Biswa Sarma.
