Assam- Arunachal Border Shooting: Police Arrest 5 in Connection with Incident

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh police on Tuesday arrested five persons in connection with the shooting incident along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border on Monday, where two people died, a senior police official said here.

The persons were arrested by Lower Siang district police on Tuesday morning and presently they are kept at Likabali police station, Arunachal Pradesh Police spokesperson Rohit Rajbir Singh said. The persons arrested in connection with the incident include Bagam Tasso, Igip Tasso, Mikjom Tasso, Bompar Tasso and Yongam Nguba, Singh said.

“Police are trying to recover the weapons used in the incident and interrogation is on with the arrested persons to unearth the truth,” Singh said.

Two persons died and three others went missing after alleged firing along the Arunachal Pradesh border in Assam’s Dhemaji district on Monday. Locals had arranged a plantation drive at the inter-state border area on the occasion of World Environment Day, Assam’s Lakhimpur district Superintendent of Police (SP) Ranjan Bhuyan had said.

Seven villagers had gone in advance to make the arrangements in the morning. They allegedly came under firing, in which one person died on the spot, he said. Three others sustained bullet injuries and were taken to the Dhemaji Civil Hospital by locals, where one person died, he added. Three others went missing and police were looking for them, Bhuyan said

Locals have alleged involvement of miscreants from Arunachal Pradesh as there was a dispute over the inter-state boundary in the area. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an 804-km-long border, and both sides have been engaging in discussions to resolve the boundary disputes. An MoU was signed by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu on April 20 in New Delhi, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to resolve the border row.

In July last year, the two chief ministers signed the Namsai Declaration setting in motion the efforts to solve the boundary disputes. Arunachal Pradesh, which was made a Union Territory in 1972, claims that several forested tracts in the plains that had traditionally belonged to the hill tribal chiefs and communities were unilaterally transferred to Assam. After Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed which recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal Pradesh. Assam contested this and the matter has been in the Supreme Court.

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