Nagaland Govt Says Sorry, AASU Road Blockade Enters 3rd Day

Guwahati, Sep 21 : The indefinite road blockade called by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) against Nagaland entered the third day on Monday with the student body saying it wanted “exemplary” punishment against a group of Nagaland Police personnel who assaulted AASU demonstrators inside Assam territory on September 15.

This came even as the Nagaland government expressed regret over the incident involving the ‘B’ Company of the 12th Nagaland Armed Police (IR) Battalion on the picketers on NH 39 in Golaghat district.

Nagaland Chief Secretary Alemtemshi Jamir in a letter to his Assam counterpart N K Das on Monday said the Nagaland government had taken serious note of the incident and has instituted a high level enquiry into the incident.

Official reports from Golaghat district said hundreds of Nagaland-bound vehicles, mostly trucks, have been stranded on NH-39 between Numaligarh and Bokajan due to the blockade.

Private vehicles and passenger buses also suffered due to the blockade. AASU volunteers have blocked all entry points to Nagaland in Golaghat, Sivasagar, Jorhat and Karbi Anglong districts that share border with the hill state.

Two bus-loads of Nagaland Police personnel had beaten up about 200 AASU volunteers at Pholongoni in Golaghat district when they were holding a dharna to protest alleged neglect of the border areas of the district by the Assam government. At least 22 AASU picketers sustained serious injuries while 60 others received minor injuries as the Nagaland Police personnel also resorted to firing in the air.

While the AASU is sore with the Assam government for failing to do anything when the police of another state beat up its volunteers inside the state, it has resorted to a road blockade demanding action against the erring Nagaland Police personnel.

“How can the police of another state come and assault people inside another state? This is also a failure of the Assam government,” said AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya. He, however, said the AASU was not against the Naga people.

“We are only protesting the police action,” he said.

Both Assam and Nagaland have constituted inquiry commissions to investigate into the incident. While the Assam government has entrusted Principal Secretary (labour and employment) K K Mittal to conduct the inquiry, the Nagaland government has asked Principal Secretary (home) C J Ponraj to carry out the probe.