Tensions along the Assam-Meghalaya border increased as fresh clashes erupted between two communities. The groups reportedly engaged in physical attacks using bows, arrows and catapults.
While tensions along the Assam-Meghalaya border aren’t new, there has been progress toward a solution, with a settlement between the two states reached in six of the 12 sectors.
However, clashes still occur between local groups settled along the border.
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Where did the clashes occur?
The clashes occurred in Lapangap village along the border between Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district and Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hills district on Tuesday evening.
Officials said that locals from both sides attacked one another using catapults and bows and arrows in a disputed village on Wednesday. A person from Karbi Anglong district was injured, while no one from the Meghalaya side was seriously hurt in the incident, they added.
Assam-Meghalaya border tensions/ HubNews
Police teams from both states arrived at the scene and calmed the residents, controlling the situation.
On Wednesday morning, police from both states barred locals from assembling near the place of the altercation, keeping the atmosphere peaceful but tense.
How did the attack occur?
Lapangap village (Meghalaya) elder (Waheh Shnong) Deimonmi Lyngdoh claimed that farmers tending to their paddy fields were attacked with catapults, bows and arrows by people from Assam who were hiding near the fields.
“Learning about the attack, around 250-300 people from our village went to the spot and retaliated with bows and arrows and catapults, with the tension lasting the entire day yesterday,” he said.
On the other hand, locals in the Tapat area of Karbi Anglong in Assam alleged that they were attacked by around 200 people from the neighbouring Meghalaya with catapults, sticks and daggers while they were working in their fields on Tuesday.
The residents of the Tapat village claimed that two houses were set on fire in the area on August 24 by people from the neighbouring state.
Videos of clashes went viral on social media and purportedly showed that hundreds of people from both sides were fighting with each other with bows and arrows and catapults.
Why is there a border dispute between Assam and Meghalaya?
Meghalaya and Assam have had a longstanding border dispute. There are 12 disputed areas between the two states along the 884.9-km-long interstate border.
The border issue dates back to 1972 when Meghalaya was carved out from Assam as a separate state. Meghalaya had then challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, leading to disputes.
Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma/ ANI
The number of disputed areas had been reduced to six after both states signed an MoU in March 2022 to resolve interstate disputes in the six regions of differences formally.
However, on December 8 last year, the Meghalaya High Court issued an interim stay on the agreement.
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