GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said the Assam Police could have fired fewer shots than they did during their confrontation with villagers from Meghalaya on Tuesday.
“I believe that the Assam Police did not have to fire that many shots. I felt it was a little unprovoked firing and the police could have controlled themselves,”
Sarma told journalists in New Delhi. His Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K Sangma’s had called it “unprovoked firing”. The incident, which occurred on the border of Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district and Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hill district, left five Meghalaya villagers and an Assam forest guard dead. Stating that the two state governments are not viewing the incident as a battle of prestige, Sarma said that he had spoken with Sangma 3-4 times since Tuesday.
He said it was not a border dispute, but a clash between Meghalaya residents and the forest guards of Assam. “The villagers (from Meghalaya) were angry when the forest guards from Assam intercepted a timber-laden vehicle and took into custody three persons. When the Assam Police went to bring the vehicle, the villagers confronted the personnel,” Sarma said, adding that the state government favours a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation or the National Investigation Agency. The Meghalaya government has also called for an investigation by either of these agencies.
Sangma on Wednesday visited the houses of the deceased and offered ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to each family. “We are all angry after what happened yesterday but violence cannot be the solution. We will ensure that the border issue, which is the crux of all tensions building up, is resolved at the earliest,” Sangma said.
A delegation of Meghalaya ministers will visit Delhi on Thursday and apprise Union Home Minister Amit Shah of the incident. The team will also meet the members of the National Human Rights Commission and submit a report on the incident.
Meanwhile, the region saw some stray incidents of attacks on vehicles. An SUV, bearing an Assam registration number, was torched by some miscreants in Shillong on Tuesday evening. Stones were allegedly also pelted at Assam vehicles. Hundreds of tourists from Assam are stranded in Meghalaya. The Assam Police is also not allowing the vehicles of the state to travel to Shillong.
Ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh
The incident, which occurred on the border of Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district and Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hill district, left five Meghalaya villagers and an Assam forest guard dead. Sangma on Wednesday visited the houses of the deceased and offered ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to each family.