New Delhi, Aug. 19:
The Centre today snubbed the Nagaland government amid the Assam
government’s charge that the recent disturbance on the inter-state
boundary was a result of a “terrorist attack”.
The Centre did not
include Nagaland officials in a high-level meeting on the latest border
flare-up held here between officials of the Centre and Assam, two days
before Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and Nagaland chief minister T.R.
Zeliang are scheduled to meet in Guwahati on Thursday to hammer out a
peaceful solution to the impasse.
The meeting was
chaired by special secretary (internal security) Prakash Mishra in the
absence of Union home secretary Anil Goswami. Assam secretary (border)
Jishnu Barua also attended the meeting.
The meeting
decided to change the standard operating procedure of the CRPF (the way
the force reacts to a situation) posted on the border. It also discussed
that security forces could escort violence-affected people returning to
their villages.
The latest clash along the inter-state boundary has resulted in the death of at least 14 people till now.
“The disturbance
is not because of group clashes but a terrorist attack,” Assam chief
secretary Jitesh Khosla told reporters after the meeting.
Home ministry
sources also said the attacks were from the Nagaland side and some
elements of the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) were involved. But there is no way of
conveying a strong message to the outfit as talks with the NSCN (I-M)
are currently suspended because of the absence of an interlocutor, they
added.
Khosla said he was
satisfied with the Centre’s response of augmenting neutral forces in
the disturbed areas belt. Sources said the number of CRPF pickets in the
affected sector have been increased from seven to 18. With tension
continuing on the border, the Centre has decided to mobilise additional
CRPF companies from within Assam.
The violence comes
a fortnight before the likely hearing of a Supreme Court case on the
boundary issue. The hearing would be crucial as tempers remain high in
the region.
The disputed area
where the latest violence has taken place, has its trigger in
decades-old dispute in which the reserve forest was part of the Naga
Hills district from 1880s to early 1900 but was later transferred to the
plains, according to the Assam government.
The Nagaland
government claims the entire disturbed area belt on the basis of the
traditional boundary defined by the British in 1925.