A group of armed Nagas on Tuesday threatened to kill an Assamese villager in Naginijan but he managed to escape and filed a complaint with the police. No one has been arrested in connection with the case as yet.
The incident occurred while the Jorhat and Makokchung (Nagaland) administrations were holding a meeting at Naginijan tea estate to form a peace coordination committee with the people of both the states in order to maintain peace along the border.
"While we were attending the meeting, an Assamese villager lodged a complaint that some Naga miscreants threatened to shoot him with automatic weapons. However, the victim managed to escape," said superintendent of police (Jorhat) Sanjukta Parasor. She added on receiving the complaint, police from both the states launched a joint operation in the area, but nobody has been arrested so far.
The local administrations of the two states on Sunday held a discussion at Mariani on the alleged Naga atrocities on Assamese villagers and the illegal tax collection drives by miscreants targeting Assamese households and tea gardens. The meeting also discussed the indefinite economic blockade imposed by All Tea Tribes Students Association (Aattsa) against Nagaland against the said issues.
But after the meeting, both the administrations assured Aattsa that their demands would be addressed and appealed to the students' body to withdraw its agitation. They also decided to form a joint peace committee on Tuesday to ensure peace at the border. Accordingly, Aattsa temporarily suspended their blockade on Monday and said the blockade would be reimposed if their demands are not addressed soon.
Aattsa assistant general secretary Dhiraj Gowala said, "We demanded immediate arrest of the culprits, failing which we would have no other alternative but to undertake an agitation again."