Assam Chief Minister opens up on border issue with Nagaland; here's what he said

GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said that his Nagaland counterpart Neiphiu Rio has written a letter to him addressing the issue of alleged firing at Assam MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi in a disputed border area.

"Nagaland's chief minister has written a letter to me and I will reply to the letter tomorrow," Sarma divulged to reporters at a presser here today.

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Biswa Sarma also added that Border Area Development Minister Atul Bora has been in touch with Nagaland officials to ensure that the "situation does not go out of control."

He further added that Bora talked with Rio 2-3 times over the phone yesterday to discuss the issue.

Assam Congress MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi, along with several others, were reportedly attacked by suspected land encroachers from Nagaland on May 27 when the legislator went to the Dissoi Valley Reserve Forest under Mariani Range in Jorhat district to take stock of the land dispute between Assam and Nagaland.

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A video of the incident has since gone viral. The video shows Kurmi and others running for cover as shots were fired.

Kurmi later claimed that he was fired upon by Naga villagers who had been handed weapons in the contested territories.

On the other hand, the United Naga Tribes Association on Border Areas (UNTABA) has claimed that no shots were fired at Mariani MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi when he went to inspect the area for ‘encroachments.’

The UNTABA claimed that the MLA had crossed the boundary by more than 3 kilometre and entered Vikuto village in Nagaland territory.

“He forcefully stopped the villagers from continuing their normal cultivation works and destroyed their Areca nut and other crops, while also threatening and abusing the villagers. When the villagers objected to this high-handed behaviour, the armed Assam Police personnel, who were brought by the MLA besides his PSO, started shooting while they were leaving. The villagers fired two shots from a muzzle-loading gun well after the entourage left”, the statement claimed.

The UNTABA inits statement further alleged that the MLA “has a habit of stirring-up people’s emotions so as to create animosity between the people living peacefully in the border area of the two States.”

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