A demonstrator kicks a vehicle that was set on fire during a protest at Golaghat district in Assam.

Agencies/Guwahati

Thousands of protesters in the northeastern state of Assam defied a curfew and attacked police in a fifth day of unrest over a territorial dispute with neighbouring Nagaland.

Assam and Nagaland have been claiming tracts of land along the state limits since the creation of Nagaland more than four decades ago.

Clashes have periodically erupted between people living in villages straddling the two states. The latest wave of violence has left at least 20 dead and forced thousands to flee their homes, officials said.

Yesterday, residents of Assam’s worst-affected Golaghat district turned on the state police, saying they had failed to protect them from attacks by Naga tribesmen coming over the state borders.

Armed with stones and sticks, and even bows and arrows, demonstrators attacked policemen and vehicles, ignoring a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by the authorities in the district, about 300km from Assam’s main commercial city Guwahati.

“The situation in Assam is volatile and emotions are high among the people against the government for its failure to protect its people from Nagas,” said Akhil Gogoi, a protest leader in Guwahati.

India’s mountainous northeast is home to dozens of ethnic groups, many of whom are campaigning for greater autonomy, statehood or even secession.

New Delhi has deployed troops for decades in the area which shares borders with China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. But critics say the northeast is a neglected corner of the country, and that federal politicians only turn their attention to it when there is an outbreak of violence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, elected by a landslide in May, has appointed a former army chief as his minister for northeast affairs to help build border infrastructure and ramp up economic activity.

Officials said Modi has sought a report on the violence from the chief ministers of Assam and Nagaland. Also, the junior minister for home affairs, Kiren Rijiju, was visiting Assam yesterday for talks with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Nagaland Chief Minister T R Zeliang and other officials from the two states to review the situation.

Police said the latest trouble began when Naga tribesmen attacked a village inside Assam last week, killing 15 people and burning their homes.

That led to several groups in Assam blocking roads to prevent trucks carrying essential goods from entering Nagaland. As the blockade continued for four days, authorities in Assam ordered police and paramilitary units to disperse the protesters and clear the roads.

The action triggered widespread protests with people coming out in large numbers with sticks and stones, Assam’s Home Secretary G D Tripathy said. Police opened fire several times to disperse the mob on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing five protesters and injuring at least 14 others.

The deaths sparked public outrage, prompting authorities to call out the army and impose a curfew in Golaghat and nearby areas.

Tripathy said the Assam government ordered an inquiry into the police dispersal and suspended a policeman. The federal government has rushed about 1,000 paramilitaries to the troubled border areas.

 

 

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