PPA seeks clarification over statement on Kimin episode

ITANAGAR, 22 Jul: The People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) has sought a clarification from the state government regarding the recent statement of the home minister and the Arunachal Indigenous Tribes Forum (AITF) over the Kimin episode.

“Both the state government and the AITF have blamed the Border Roads Organization (BRO) for the incident in which Kimin was depicted as ‘Bilgarh’ in Assam,” the party said in a release on Thursday.

“While it is understood that most of the community-based organizations (CBO) had kept mum on the issue at that point of time, the press statement given by the AITF along with the state home minister, blaming the BRO as a main culprit behind the incident, doesn’t seem to carry much water,” it said.

“There are questions as to why the ITBP should also not be held responsible for the episode along with the BRO,” it said.

Claiming that the “status of the CBOs in the state has deteriorated in the last four to five years,” the PPA alleged that the CBOs “have been reduced to mere wedging tools of the state government.”

“The most saddening situation has been to see the AITF, the federation of CBOs, coming to the aid of the government, no matter how harmful the effects of such actions could be for the future generation of the state,” the PPA said, and urged the members of the CBOs in the state to “stand guard against such misuse of their organizations by the AITF.”

The party demanded a thorough probe into the episode and called for “a logical conclusion to be drawn without just throwing the blame on the BRO.”