Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 18 Jun: In the wake of Chakma settlers’ resorting to violence in Kathan village in Lohit district following the alleged desecration of a Buddha idol, the All Mishmi Students’ Union and the district student unions of Lohit and Anjaw on Friday served an ultimatum along with five demands to the state government.
The demands include arrest of the Chakmas who were involved in attacking Kathan village and encroaching on the locals’ land within 10 days.
The unions also demanded “immediate eviction of illegally constructed structures, including temple, monastery, huts and residential houses and plantation from Mishmi community area.” They also demanded formation of an “inter-district boundary commission of Lohit and Changlang and demarcation of the same within six months.”
The unions said that “the traditional boundary of the Mishmi and the Singpho communities has already been drawn.” They also demanded early completion of the police outpost in Kathan village and installation of mobile network connectivity, saying that Kathan village is the remotest village in Lohit district and is located in a “most-sensitive zone.”
The unions further claimed that the villagers and the local residents of Kathan are “subjected to land grabbing, extortion and fear psychosis by illegal Chakma settlers.” They said that the Mishmi society and the districts’ student unions have placed a series of representations before the state government, but “the government failed to resolve the issue.”
Reiterating their five demands, the unions stated that they would launch a series of agitations in Mishmi-inhabited districts of the state if the state government fails to meet their demands.
