Disquiet in Northeast 

Disquiet in Northeast 

• On November 22, five villagers from Meghalaya and an Assam Forest guard were killed and two others were seriously injured in a firing incident along the boundary between the two States. 

What happened?

• The Assam government said the incident happened after its forest guards tried to intercept a truck smuggling illegal timber.
• When the truck was stopped, the forest personnel were gheraoed by unknown miscreants who resorted to violence, according to Assam, which maintains that the staff resorted to firing to save their lives. 
• Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said on Twitter that the Assam police and Assam Forest guards entered Meghalaya and “resorted to unprovoked firing”. 

Five-decade-old boundary dispute –

• Versions differ and both States have instituted separate inquiries, but the mistrust and underlying conflicts in the northeast that lead to such incidents are deeper. 
• Assam and Meghalaya have a five-decade-old boundary dispute. Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as an autonomous region in 1970 and became a full-fledged State in 1972. 
• In March, Assam and Meghalaya resolved the boundary dispute at six out of a total of 12 such locations along their 884.9 km boundary, and the next round of talks was to take place soon. Though the latest flareup did not arise out of this dispute, it happened along a disputed border stretch.

Boundary disputes in the northeast –

• Assam has boundary disputes at various points with the States carved out of it — Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. 
• Last year, the police forces of Assam and Mizoram clashed, killing five on the Assam side. Over the years, dozens of people have died in conflicts along State borders in the northeast. 

Solving the disputes –

• Union Home Minister Amit Shah had asked Assam to take the lead in resolving the lingering disputes, which have their origins in the colonial cartography that overlooked the life patterns of local communities. 
• Traditional hunting, grazing, and farming grounds of communities got divided by modern administrative boundaries into many places. 
• When new States were formed, such concerns acquired a more serious nature, and the Naga demand for a unified homeland that is now spread beyond the State of Nagaland is instructive.
• It is unfortunate and tragic that States that are part of the Indian Union are involved in violent clashes with one another. 
• The BJP is in government in much of the northeast and has the leverage to aim for a complete resolution of all outstanding disputes in the region. 
• Communities will have to be taken into confidence, and boundaries adjusted. In any case, these manmade lines should not be allowed to restrict the movement of people in pursuit of a livelihood.