Meghalaya killings not tied to Assam boundary row: Centre

Clash between forest guards and people was related to smuggling of timber, says Assam Chief Minister; officials suspended for ‘unprovoked firing’; case will be referred to CBI or NIA

Security personnel stand guard near a forest office, a day after it was vandalised and burnt down by miscreants following violence on the Assam­-Meghalaya boundary. | Photo Credit: PTI

A day after five Meghalaya villagers and an Assam forest guard were killed in a firing incident on the Assam-Meghalaya border, a Union Home Ministry official said on Wednesday that the incident was not related to the border dispute between the two States.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in Delhi that Assam forest guards and villagers clashed over the alleged smuggling of timber. He said that “unprovoked firing” could have been controlled and noted that officials have been suspended already. He added that the case will be referred to either the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had said in a tweet on November 22 that the Assam police and forest guards entered Meghalaya and resorted to unprovoked firing.

“We will be requesting a probe either by CBI or NIA. State government is already investigating and the officials responsible for the act have been placed under suspension. Villagers cut some timber and were carrying them in a truck. There was some unprovoked firing and it could have been controlled. I spoke to Meghalaya CM on the issue,” Mr. Sarma said.

A statement by the Assam government had said that the incident reportedly took place when the forest party attempted to stop a truck smuggling out illegal timber. “When the truck was stopped, the forest personnel were gheraoed by unknown miscreants who resorted to violence. In order to save their lives, the forest party resorted to firing. In the incident, three civilians and one forest guard died,” it said.

The boundary issue between the two States has lingered for more than five decades. In March this year, Assam and Meghalaya resolved their dispute at six out of total 12 such locations along the 884.9 km boundary. Presiding over an event where the two Chief Ministers signed an agreement on the boundary issue, Home Minister Amit Shah had recalled his earlier remarks in 2019 that the “Assam government should take the lead in solving boundary disputes with other States and other States should also come forward.”

Meghalaya, carved out of Assam as an autonomous State in 1970, became a full-fledged State in 1972.