4 min readGuwahatiJan 31, 2022 07:43 AM IST
First published on: Jan 30, 2022 at 09:48 PM IST
A policeman was injured amid tensions between police and protestors during an eviction drive in Assam’s Karbi Anglong on Sunday, authorities said.
The drive, which was conducted to evict around 100 households in the Balijan ‘C’ area in Lahorijan, along the Assam-Nagaland border, began Sunday morning, on the order of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC). The council — which has executive powers over land revenue matters — was carrying out the drive, aided by the police and district administration, to remove alleged “illegal encroachers” from the area.
As per reports, the residents, who claim they have been living in the area for decades, started pelting stones, leading the police to lathi charge and fire in the air on Sunday afternoon. According to Superintendent of Police, Karbi Anglong, Pushpraj Singh, there were multiple instances of stone pelting by the residents, and the police had to resort to “mild force” to disperse the crowd. “We had to fire rubber bullets… no civilian was hurt but one policeman was severely injured,” he said.
ExplainedMatter pending in court
THIS IS the third eviction drive in Lahorijan area – two were carried out in earlier December. Following that, 11 Naga residents of Balijan ‘C' had petitioned Gauhati High Court on the issue. The court had said that no action should be taken on the 11 respondents. The matter is listed for February 2. The Assam government has been conducting several eviction drives to clear land of alleged “illegal encroachers”. In September last year, two civilians, including a 12-year-old, were killed in one such drive in Sipajhar area of Darrang district.
The area, located right on the border across Nagaland’s Dimapur, has a mix of Naga and Bengali Muslim residents. Locals claim that they have been living in the area and have “all requisite documents”.
“We had requested some time from the KAAC but they carried out the eviction forcefully anyway. Now we have nowhere to go,” claimed K Aye, who is the village chairman of Balijan ‘C’.
He added that in Khan Basti, part of the Balijan ‘C’ area, from where residents were evicted, 80 per cent of landowners were Naga. Locals claim that they bought the land from the descendants of Late Hazi Manigul Khan, who established the village in 1910.
“The villagers are not claiming that this particular area is disputed or that it belongs to Nagaland… this land belongs to Assam, but Nagas, who live there, have purchased this land with money. They have Aadhaar cards, Voter IDs, they pay bills — and have been living there for decades,” said Kegwayhun Tep Naga Student Federation (NSF), which had written to the KAAC asking it not to carry out the eviction. Earlier in January, even Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio had written to his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma about the issue, asking him to intervene and “protect the lives and property of the Naga residents of Karbi Anglong in keeping with social justice and spirit of good neighbourly relations between the two states.”
According to locals, they got agitated when the authorities tried to break a bridge that connects the village to Dimapur.
Karbi Anglong Deputy Commissioner Dibakar Nath said that the drive was conducted peacefully. “Initially, some misunderstanding had happened with the residents but we spoke to DC Dimapur, and we sorted it out. The drive was carried out successfully and peacefully,” he said.
This is the third eviction drive in the Lahorijan area — the first two were carried out in December. Following that, eleven Naga residents of Balijan ‘C’ had petitioned the Gauhati High Court on the issue. The court had said that no action should be taken against the eleven respondents. The matter is listed for February 2.
The Assam government has been conducting several eviction drives to clear land of alleged “illegal encroachers”. In September last year, two civilians, including a 12-year-old, were killed in one such drive in Sipajhar area of Darrang district.
The council — which has executive powers over land revenue matters — was carrying out the drive, aided by the police and district administration, to remove alleged “illegal encroachers” from the area. (Representational) 
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