Eviction demand: IPS officer among 38 cops injured in riot in Assams West Karbi Anglong
GUWAHATI: Assams West Karbi Anglong district remained on the boil for the second day on Tuesday with protestors rioting, torching and vandalising shops, and attacking the police with bombs, stones and arrows at Kheroni. The incidents occurred even as prohibitory orders under Section 163 BNSS remained in force in the district as well as in Karbi Anglong district since Monday evening. In the wake of the violence, the state government temporarily suspended internet/mobile data services in West Karbi Anglong and Karbi Anglong districts with immediate effect and until further orders. The protestors from the tribal Karbi community are demanding the eviction of outsiders from some village grazing reserves (VGRs) and professional grazing reserves (PGRs). Director General of Police Harmeet Singh, who has been camping in the district since Monday, told the media that 38 police personnel were injured. They attacked us from two sides. Thirty-eight police personnel, including an IPS officer, were injured. I was hit on my shoulder, Singh said without explaining the nature of the injuries. They (protestors) had promised yesterday that they would not resort to violence. Today again, they attacked shops and burst gas cylinders. We were attacked with bombs. One of our personnel was hit by an arrow. We are exercising restraint. We fired only tear gas and rubber bullets, he further stated. He appealed for peace but warned that if the violence continued, legal measures would be taken. The violence had subsided on Monday night when the states education minister, Ranoj Pegu, and the DGP visited the areas. It broke out again on Tuesday, soon after the minister had left the area. Pegu had managed to persuade the protestors to end their fortnight-long hunger strike, assuring them of dialogue on their demand. We are holding discussions with both protestors and the encroachers, he had told the media before leaving the place. The protestors had on Monday torched the ancestral residence of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) Chief Executive Member Tuliram Ronghang, after news spread that nine persons taking part in the hunger strike at Kheroni were arrested by the police on Sunday night. Protestors torch Assam tribal council chiefs ancestral residence Later, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma clarified that they were taken to Guwahati as their health condition deteriorated. On Monday morning, after briefly blocking a road and vandalising shops, a large number of protestors proceeded to Donkamokam, which is the constituency of Ronghang located 26 km away, to stage a demonstration. However, security personnel used force, firing blank shots to disperse the protestors. Even as the standoff continued, a few alleged protestors set fire to Ronghangs house and it was gutted. West Karbi Anglong, as well as Karbi Anglong, falls under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, where land is protected for indigenous tribal communities. The protesters alleged that vast swathes of land in VGRs and PGRs in West Karbi Anglong had been encroached upon by outsiders. Last year, the KAAC administration had served eviction notices on the illegal settlers, but they moved to the Gauhati High Court challenging the notices. Later, the court issued an interim stay on eviction.
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