GUWAHATI, July 28: A touring delegation of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) was stopped by police personnel from proceeding towards Lailapur Bazar in Cachar district to meet residents near the site of Monday’s conflict along the Assam-Mizoram border citing “security reasons”.
The APCC members, who were camping in Silchar, began their border tour on Tuesday morning, but the visit to Lailapur was cut short after Dholai police barred them from moving any further from Dholai Bazar.
Justifying the move, newly posted Cachar superintendent of police Ramandeep Kaur said that “no person or political party, regardless of affiliation, is allowed to visit the conflict site at Lailapur because of security reasons as the situation there is still tense.”
It may be noted that a committee led by newly-appointed APCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah was constituted by the All India Congress Committee for assessing the ground situation at Lailapur in Cachar district in the wake of the border violence, which has so far accounted for seven deaths, six of them policemen, and injuries to over 40 others.
The visiting delegation also comprised CLP leader Debabrata Saikia, deputy CLP Leader Rakibul Hussain; APCC working president Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha and All India Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev among other members.
“We had come to take stock of the situation and express solidarity with the border residents who have been in a state of fear and insecurity since Monday’s violence. However, it is unfortunate that we were prevented from meeting them,” APCC president Borah told mediapersons at Dholai Bazar.
The Congress members subsequently staged a silent sit-in protest at Dholai Bazar.
“When the chief minister, other ministers and political leaders of the ruling party were allowed to enter the border area, there is no reason why Opposition leaders cannot do the same. As it is, we have not come to create any trouble,” former Silchar MP, Dev said.
“The Congress party’s team wanted to assess the ground situation at a point 5 km from the border but they stopped us 8 km before it,” Dev later tweeted.
Later, the Congress delegation met the family members of the martyrs and expressed their condolences.