GUWAHATI: The All Assam Gorkha Students Union (AAGSU) has vehemently condemned the alleged physical assault on two residents of Lower Langpih by a police team from West Khasi Hills when the duo along with some local people were engaged in the repair of a kutcha road from Mokaibari to Sundarpur in Kamrup district on Thursday.
An FIR was lodged in this connection at Boko Police Station on Friday by the duo — Sambhu Chetri, who is a secretary of the village defence party, Lower Langpih, and Hari Thapa, a resident of Mokaibari under Boko police station.
The students union, meanwhile, has threatened to stage an economic blockade in the border area if immediate measures were not taken to ensure protection of residents of Langpih area, including strengthening security forces in the border police outpost at Langpih and intensified patrolling by Assam police in the area.
Speaking to The Shillong Times on Monday, Chetri said the police team along with a magistrate from West Khasi Hills came in two vehicles on Thursday afternoon and gheraoed them while they were taking rest after road repair work.
“They verbally abused and physically attacked us after questioning our right to repair the road. They then took us to Nonglang in West Khasi Hills, about 10 km from the Assam border and conducted a preliminary medical check-up. Thereafter, they threatened us again and dropped us near an area near the Meghalaya border outpost,” Chetri said.
A team from the students union along with police officials visited the site on Saturday and took stock of the situation in the area which falls under Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council.
About 700 families from the Gorkha community reside along with other communities in the Langpih area.
In a statement issued from Boko on Monday, AAGSU (Kamrup district committee) secretary, Gobinda Sarma appealed to both the Assam and Meghalaya governments to arrange a joint meeting for permanent solution to the decades-old interstate boundary problem in the Langpih area, which has already seen many flare-ups between residents of the two states.
“The Assam Government has apparently not shown intent to monitor the situation in the border area regularly unlike its counterparts. Officials of the administration need to arrange citizens’ meetings and take measures to ensure security for the residents,” Sarma said.
Organisations such as the All Rabha Students Union and Lachit Sena, Assam, also condemned the incident and urged the state government to resolve all border issues with Meghalaya as well as with Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.