The incident came just days ahead of the second phase of talks scheduled for this month-end between the two states to resolve their boundary dispute.
The killing of six people in Assam firing on Tuesday along the disputed Assam-Meghalaya border came just days ahead of the second phase of talks scheduled for this month-end between the two states to resolve their boundary dispute. The incident is likely to cast shadow over the negotiations between the two states.
What happened on Tuesday?
Six people, including a forest guard, were killed in violence at the disputed Assam-Meghalaya border in the early hours of Tuesday after a truck allegedly laden with illegally felled timber was intercepted by forest guards from Assam.
The incident took place in an area bordering the West Karbi Anglong district of Assam and Mukroh village in Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hills. The Assam Police has claimed they opened fire in self defence after a mob surrounded them when they were trying to intercept a truck allegedly smuggling timber.
In a tweet tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Sarma, Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma, whose party is an ally of the BJP, complained that the Assam police and forest guards "entered Meghalaya and resorted to unprovoked firing".
Five of the six killed at "Mukroh village in West Jaintia Hills district" were Meghalaya residents and one is an Assam Forest Guard, Sangma said. The Meghalaya CM announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased individuals.
He also said that a team of state ministers will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah on November 24 to seek a central agency probe into the matter.
Criticising the Assam Police over handling of the violence along the Assam-Meghalaya border that led to killing of six people, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said it used force in an "unprovoked, uncontrolled and arbitrary" manner.
Sarma, who also holds the Home portfolio, also said the interstate border is peaceful, and the recent clashes had erupted between locals and forest guards.
Ahead of a posse of Meghalaya ministers meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Sarma announced Wednesday at Delhi that his cabinet has decided to hand over the probe into violence at the border of the two states to the CBI.
What is the border dispute?
Assam and Meghalaya share a 884-km long borderand have a longstanding dispute in 12 stretches. The two northeastern states had signed a memorandum of understanding in March this year in the presence of Union Home Minister Shah in New Delhi towards ending the dispute in six of these 12 areas.
The second round of talks, scheduled for this month-end, was for the remaining six disputed stretches. The Assam-Meghalaya pact has so far been seen as a major achievement as Assam’s border disputes with other northeastern states have remained unresolved despite multiple rounds of talks.
During the British rule, undivided Assam included present-day Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Meghalaya was carved out of Assam in 1972 and had since then challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, which is recognised by Assam as its border.
In 2011, the Meghalaya government had identified 12 areas of difference with Assam, spread over approximately 2,700 sq km.
Several attempts have been made in the past to resolve the boundary dispute between the two northeastern states. In 1985, when Hiteswar Saikia was the chief minister of Assam and Captain W A Sangma was the CM of Meghalaya, an official committee was constituted under the former Chief Justice of India Y V Chandrachud. However, the committee could not find a solution to the dispute.
From July 2021, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Conrad Sharma held several rounds of talks. This led to identification of 12 disputed areas, out of which six were resolved in the first phase. These included three areas contested between West Khasi Hills district in Meghalaya and Kamrup in Assam, two between RiBhoi in Meghalaya and Kamrup-Metro, and one between East Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya and Cachar in Assam.
Officials had then said the six areas taken up did not have major differences and were easier to resolve, which is why they were picked in the first phase. “The remaining six areas are more complex and may take longer to resolve,” The Indian Express quoted an Assam government official as saying.
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