ITANAGAR, 20 Nov: Rajya Sabha member Nabam Rebia urged the Assam government to stop harassing the innocent people of Arunachal Pradesh residing along the Assam-Arunachal boundary since time immemorial.
Rebia said this against the backdrop of Assam forest department’s serving an eviction notice to the villagers of Belo, Lora, Buka and Gumto in the Arunachal-Assam boundary area.
Terming the move “very unfortunate and condemnable,” the MP urged the Assam government to maintain the status quo in the boundary areas as the boundary dispute between the
two states is sub judice in the Supreme Court.
“The government of Assam is not oblivious of the fact that the report of the Local Boundary Commission headed by retired justice Tarun Chatterjee is now pending in the Supreme Court. As such, the matter is sub judice. Neither the government of Assam nor the government of Arunachal Pradesh should do anything pertaining to the long-pending border disputes between the two states,” Rebia said in a press statement on Saturday.
He said that a number of status quo agreements have been signed between the two states by successive governments but the Assam government has time and again violated the status quo and resorted to eviction drives against innocent tribal people of Arunachal.
“The peace-loving people of Arunachal want a cordial relationship between the two states. But it should not be construed as weakness on the part of Arunachal people,” he said, and added that the Assam government should also “understand the historical background of the original boundary between the two states.”
Rebia, however, welcomed the move by the governments of the two states to sort out the interstate boundary dispute out of court.
