GUWAHATI: Regional political party Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) has slammed the Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP government for its alleged failure to take steps to resolve the pending border issues with its neighbouring states.
The party accused the incumbent government of playing an “indifferent” role in terms of protecting the lives and properties of people living in villages near the inter-state boundaries.
In a statement issued on Thursday, AJP general secretary Jagadish Bhuyan alleged that the escalation of violence and tension along the Assam-Mizoram border in Hailakandi district, with several people injured in mob clashes and houses burnt on Tuesday, was an outcome of the failure of the government to take result-oriented measures to solve the pending border issues over the past five years.
“Miscreants have set on fire over 70 houses and injured several people in the Gollacherra area of Hailakandi district. Illegal settlers have occupied land in the Kachurthal area…So we fail to understand why the Assam government has not paid any attention to the security of people of the state residing in the inter-state border areas,” Bhuyan said.
The party leader further alleged that prior to this, “Mizoram had occupied nearly 1000 hectares in the Gharmura area in Hailakandi district. In the same manner, neighbouring Meghalaya has occupied 1138 hectares of land in Assam’s Goalpara district (99 ha), Cachar district (640 ha), Kamrup Metro district (314 bigha) and Kamrup Rural district (353 ha).”
“Besides, neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh has further exposed the limitations of Assam by occupying almost 12,000 hecatres land in Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur districts. Worse still, another neighbouring state, Nagaland has occupied over 62,000 hectares of Assam territory,” Bhuyan alleged.
The party condemned, in strongest terms, the alleged failure of the alliance government in Assam to resolve the border issues in the past five years.
“Despite so many petitions on the disputes with Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya pending in Supreme Court, the BJP government has not taken any step in the interest of the people of Assam. Given the failure to protect its borders and provide security to the border residents, the incumbent government cannot claim to be the guardian of the people of the state,” he added.