After clash along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border leaves 6 people injured, AASU stages road blockade

Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share a border of 804.1-km, with flare-ups reported along the border on a regular basis since the 1990s.

TN National Desk

Updated Aug 16, 2022, 18:11 IST

File picture: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma (right) with Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu during a meeting in Namsai

Photo : PTI

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

In a move toward resolving their seven-decade-old boundary dispute, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh signed the Namsai Declaration last month
At that time, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said: “Earlier, there were 123 border villages that were in dispute. Now, we have agreed to restrict that number to 86 villages. We have also decided to resolve the issue by September 15 this year”
“The border dispute between our states has been ongoing for nearly seven decades now. But it has not seen any progress towards resolution due to lack of political will of earlier governments,” Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu had said

North Lakhimpur: The Assam Police said on Tuesday that six people were injured in an attack on a Village Defence Party (VDP) in the Lakhimpur district near the Arunachal Pradesh border.

In response to the incident, local units of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) staged a blockade on the road leading to Arunachal Pradesh this morning.

The incident occurred in the Rupahi Rajgarh area at around 1 am on Monday when the VDP questioned four youngsters from a neighbouring state after finding them in a vehicle, according to a police officer.

He added: "The VDP let the youths go after some questioning. However, they returned after some time with around 40 miscreants, who attacked the VDP personnel."

According to the official, at least six members of the VDP were injured.

In Assam, there are over 22,000 registered VDPs.

Local units of the AASU blocked the road leading to the neighbouring state on Tuesday as a protest against the attack and to demand the arrest of the perpetrators.

After senior Arunachal Pradesh government officials assured them of stern action against the culprits, the AASU retracted its road blockade.

Arunachal Pradesh and Assam share an 804.1-km border in Biswanath, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Udalguri, Sonitpur, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, and Charaideo districts.

Last year, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the state Assembly that Assam has a boundary dispute with Arunachal Pradesh at 1,200 places.

Arunachal Pradesh was a centrally-administrated region after independence. Later, it became a Union Territory. On February 20, 1987, Arunachal Pradesh became a full-fledged state.

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