Jowai, Sept 27: The stand-off between the local communities living along the Assam – Meghalaya border continued on Wednesday after a violent turn of events on Tuesday over claim of land ownership in Lapangap village, that involved use of bow and arrows and catapults.
The clash between the Pnar (Jaintia) villagers of Lapangap in West Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya and the Karbi villagers from the West Karbi Anglong area of Assam continued once again on Wednesday despite the presence of police forces from both the states manning the inter-state border.
The clash erupted when a group of Pnars from Lapangap Village were clearing the overgrowth at their paddy fields in the village when hundreds of Karbis allegedly started attacking them with catapults, bows and arrows.
Learning about the incident, villagers from Lapangap side rushed to the aide of their brethren of confront the Karbi community for their action.
However, they were accompanied by Assam police, whose personnel pointed their guns at the villagers from Meghalaya when they did not leave their fields; luckily no shots were fired.
This went on for hours before a team of Meghalaya Police personnel reached the scene and urged the Pnars to return but to no avail as the fields belong to the Pnars of the village.
However, by this time, more people had joined the Karbi Anglong side, outnumbering the Pnars in considerable number. They destroyed the ginger cultivation and burnt down parts of the plantation. When the Pnar villagers protested, Assam Police fired around atleast five tear gas canisters towards them and at the place where the Meghalaya Police personnel and district administration officials were.
During the clash, a handful of villagers from Meghalaya were injured by catapult shots.
Reportedly, these fields have been cultivated by the Pnars for centuries and they have all the land documents for the same, but villagers from the Karbi Anglong side have started interfering into the fields only from August 24, 2023.
The villagers have urged upon the government to take up the matter seriously because its harvesting season.
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 villagers of Lapangap in West Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya and the Karbi villagers from the West Karbi Anglong area of Assam continued once again on Wednesday despite the presence of police forces from both the states manning the inter-state border.){kind=link}