Guwahati/Imphal, Dec 1 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that the prevailing situation in neighbouring Manipur would have an impact on the state.
The Chief Minister said that he considered that the situation in Manipur would definitely have some impact on Assam and that’s why “we have deployed additional police forces in Barak Valley (southern Assam) areas to see that nothing spills over to Assam.”
Talking to the media on the sidelines of the inauguration of a sub-divisional court in Cachar district, Sarma said as Assam shares inter-state borders with Manipur the incidents in the neighbouring state would definitely have some offshoot impact on Assam.
“To prevent the aftereffects, we have deployed additional police forces along the inter-state border between Manipur and Barak Valley to see that nothing spills over to Assam,” the Chief Minister said.
Assam’s Cachar (130.60 km) and Dima Hasao (73.5 km) districts share borders with ethnic violence-devastated Manipur.
Cachar's Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatta has been closely overseeing the inter-state border security measures with daily inspections at the border.
"Given the current law and order situation in Jiribam district in Manipur, strict security arrangements have been executed to prevent unauthorised entry from Manipur into Cachar and to deter any potential sabotage that could exploit the unrest in Jiribam. Enhanced security measures have also been established along the riverine areas bordering Manipur, including the Jiri and Barak rivers," the official told the media.
Mahatta said that Assam Chief Minister and Director General of Police G.P. Singh has directed the Cachar police to take firm action against any attempts to disrupt peace in the district.
"We are committed to safeguarding Cachar from the ongoing chaos in Manipur," he said.
Largely unaffected in the 18-month-long ethnic riot in most parts of Manipur, mixed-population Jiribam witnessed a wave of violence after the killing of 59-year-old farmer Soibam Saratkumar Singh on June 6 this year.
The Jiribam violence in June led to around 1,500 people belonging to both Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities taking shelter at the homes of relatives and friends in two villages in the Cachar district.
Though most of the refugees subsequently returned to Jiribam, a few hundred Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribals still lived with their relatives in Cachar.
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