Normalcy Returns To West Karbi Anglong After Violence

In the West Karbi Anglong district of Assam, regions affected by violence were returning to normal, with no new occurrences reported. On Friday, a tripartite meeting will take place in Guwahati among the state administration, the autonomous council, and protesters.

Tight security. After two people were killed and several others, including police officers, were hurt in violence earlier this week, the affected neighbourhoods are under vigilance, they added.

"The situation is normal now. However, prohibitory orders, night curfew and suspension of mobile internet services in the affected areas continue to be in force," the official said.

He added that no fresh incident of violence has been reported over the last couple of days, even as the army, Rapid Action Force and CRPF were deployed in the area.

The worst-hit Kheroni area in the district is home to people from the Bihari, Bengali, Nepali, and Karbi communities, apart from the indigenous Karbis.

In the West Karbi Anglong district, the indigenous Karbi and Bihari populations have been at odds over claims that Hindi-speaking individuals have invaded the Village Grazing Reserve (VGR) and Professional Grazing Reserve (PGR) lands in the tribal belts.

In the meantime, protesters, the state administration, and the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) are set to meet in Guwahati on Friday.

According to an official, KAAC chief Tuliram Ronghang and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma are expected to attend the meeting.

For fifteen days, agitators from the Karbi community had been on a hunger strike, calling for the removal of alleged illegal settlers from the VGR and PGR properties in the two districts, Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong. These settlers are primarily from Bihar.

After police removed three agitators from the protest site in the early hours of Monday—a move the administration later claimed was necessary for their hospitalisation—they went on a rampage.

Tuesday saw widespread violence in the severely afflicted Kheroni neighbourhood in the West Karbi Anglong district. Over 70 people, including more than 60 police officers, were hurt, and one person was killed by police gunfire, and another was burned alive inside his home.

Sarma stated on Wednesday that the Gauhati High Court's injunction prevents the Karbi people's demand to drive out supposed Hindi-speaking intruders from grazing areas.