Guwahati, November 23, 2022 (PPI-OT):Amid rising incidents of arson and protests, tension between two Indian states -Meghalaya and Assam -has escalated after Assam police killed six people in Meghalaya’s border village Mukroh, the other day. Cars bearing Assam number plates were set ablaze and the Khasi Students’ Union held protest marches across Meghalaya as the state is boiling with anger over the killing of its six citizens by the Assam police in Mukroh village on Tuesday.

The Meghalaya government claimed that the Assam police and forest guards entered the state and “resorted to unprovoked firing”. The Assam government on the other hand said that the incident took place when their forest officials tried to stop a truck smuggling out illegal timber, and that the personnel fired in order to save their own lives.

Assam and Meghalaya already have a tense relationship due to disputed areas along their 884.9 km interstate border, and the Mukroh incident has put further strain on ties. “The Meghalaya government strongly condemns the incident where the Assam Police and Assam Forest Guards entered Meghalaya and resorted to unprovoked firing,” Sangma had tweeted Tuesday.

Reacting to the incident, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma reportedly said Wednesday that the Assam Police “should not have been so aggressive in dealing with the situation”. “The police fired more shots than what was required in dealing with the situation,” he added.

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