Assam wants SSB along volatile Nagaland border

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has requested Home Minister Rajnath Singh to deploy the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) as a neutral force along the Assam-Nagaland border where at least 10 Assamese villagers were killed and over 10,000 people displaced after attacks by Naga insurgents.

Gogoi, in a letter to Rajnath Singh, informed him about the latest situation along the inter-state border that had witnessed violence last month.

Naga militant outfits - supposed to be observing ceasefire - opened fire in Uriamghat in Assam's Golaghat district Aug 12. Over 100 houses were burnt by the assailants, forcing about 10,000 people to take shelter in relief camps. Eight villages were affected in the violence.

The area along the Assam-Nagaland border has been under dispute since the creation of Nagaland in 1963 and the CRPF has been stationed there as a neutral force since 1979. A case is also pending in the Supreme Court on the boundary demarcation.

Gogoi expressed concern that some Naga villagers backed by militants were creating obstruction in rehabilitation of the displaced people.

He also said that Nagaland Armed Police have been deployed in some villages in the area and urged the home minister to intervene and make arrangements for withdrawal of the forces immediately.

"The presence of Nagaland Armed Police has caused panic among the people and they are reluctant to return to their homes. It is necessary that the Nagaland Armed Police is immediately withdrawn from the villages," Gogoi said in his letter.

Although 5,700 inmates, who had taken shelter in relief camps, have returned to their villages, over 4,000 others are reluctant to return.