OUR CORRESPONDENT
ITANAGAR: Taking serious note of the repeated illegalities committed by Assam police and forest officials in several villages under Kangku Circle of Lower Siang district recently, the All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU) has asked the state government to register its protest at the highest level.
The apex students' body of the state while condemning the unilateral act of Assam officials in destroying standing crops; termed it as an act of threat and intimidation to the peace-loving people of Arunachal Pradesh.
The AAPSU convened a meeting here on Sunday in connection with the border issues between Assam and its neighbouring states in the aftermath of the Assam-Mizoram border clash as well as the destruction of tea plantations and rice fields in Lora village of Kimin under Papum Pare district and Longkhojan village in the Kanubari circle of Longding district of the state.
"The deafening silence and meek stand adopted by the state government is sending out a wrong message and instead emboldening its counterpart in carrying out such atrocities to the interstate boundary dwellers," AAPSU president Hawa Bagang and general secretary Tobom Dai said in a joint statement here.
They termed the last-minute cancellation of the high-powered committee meeting on border issues without citing any reasons as 'unfortunate'.
"When there are already talks of resolving the border issue between Arunachal Pradesh and Assam at the highest level, such incidents defeat the very purpose of conflict resolution. The recent incident at Kimin whereby the area was mentioned as Bilgarh also points to a larger controversy," the AAPSU leaders said.
The union will visit both the eastern and western border areas of the state in the coming days to ascertain the ground realities and the problems faced by the people living on the interstate boundary areas, Bagang and Dai added.
The AAPSU advocated strict adherence to the status quo along the interstate borders and appealed for peace and tranquillity.
"Border issues can be resolved only through talks," they said.
"While supplementing the stand taken by North East Students' Organisation (NESO), we urge upon the central government to immediately intervene in the Assam-Mizoram imbroglio and also call upon for lifting of economic blockade against Mizoram by various individuals and organisations," the AAPSU leaders added. .
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