Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, JULY 21
THE inter-state border tussle along the disputed belt that separates Nagaland’s Dimapur with Assam’s Karbi-Anglong is fast threatening to morph into a full-scale war, even as Naga villagers and Assam police exchanged gunfire for the third consecutive day on Monday, claiming one more precious life in the process.
35-year-old, Chingkhiubo Gonmei was killed in the gunfight that broke out when Assam police personnel sought to evict Dikoi villagers for the third day in a row and were met with resistance from the villagers, who had resorted to use firearms in order to thwart the advancing Assam police troops.
His body was taken by Assam police to Diphu, according to sources from Dikoi village. Three more villagers were injured in the shootout, the source informed. They have been identified as Talamding Zeliang (21), Sylvester Poumai (26) and Arui Zeliang (36), and are under medication at District Hospital, Dimapur.
Sources from Dikoi village said that the Assam police team, on their most aggressive drive yet to flush out the Naga settlers who they claim are illegal occupants of their forest land, arrived within the periphery of Dikoi at around 12 noon.
Shooting broke out some thirty minutes later. Since yesterday the Dikoi villagers have dug bunkers along the outer edge of the village and entrenched themselves – ready for any showdown.
This however did not prevent the Assam police team from dismantling/burning another 100 houses or so, which were built by the Naga settlers in the area, during the operation on Monday. Dikoi villagers said that the Assam police had used JCB machineries to dismantle the hutments.
By 6 o’clock in the evening, the whole village was however completely deserted. All the villagers had left, seeking shelter elsewhere while the Assam police team had also returned to their base camp.
There are fears that both the parties would return again to stake their rights very soon, if not tomorrow.
While the border tension escalated there has been inexplicable silence from the state government as well as the Dimapur district administration. The police too have been ineffective in controlling the situation.
Three days of full-blooded gunfight, and at least one human casualty, has not turned the attention of the authorities to take stock of the crisis and intervene artfully.
What is being asked is what other signs of trouble are they waiting for ?
