Karbi Students Association (KSA) took out a protest rally at Jirikindeng in Assam’s West Karbi Anglong on Thursday demanding early solution to the border problem with Meghalaya.
The protesters went in a procession to Jirikindeng police station and submitted a memorandum at the police station addressed to the chief minister of Assam for the establishment of a Border Outpost (BoP) for security to the people of West Karbi Anglong.
It may be recalled that the Assam Police has tried to establish a BoP at Khaskhasla on June 11 last. But on June 13 a mob from Meghalaya, administration and police came to the BoP and demanded that the BoP cannot be established without proper demarcation of the border. The Assam Police BoP was eventually dismantled.
Subsequently, on June 14, the Meghalaya police came four km inside Assam and established a BoP by occupying a local club at Pisiyar in West Karbi Anglong.
However, the locals protested and Jirikindeng police was able to persuade the intruders to return. Since then the tension among the population in border areas of Assam with Meghalaya has renewed.
Tension in Assam-Meghalaya border is not new and often leads to communal violence in the past with Khasi-Pnar people on one side and other communities on the other side. It is a long standing problem that has not been solved.
The people on the side of Assam in West Karbi Anglong have demanded development of the border areas. The area is under developed with no roads, telecommunication network, health facilities, school or power.
The government of Meghalaya on the other hand has often built roads and bridges and provided solar lights free of cost to the people of Assam in the border areas.