North East

Around 600 killed in NE border clashes till date: Rijiju

Itanagar, August 19 (UNI): Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday informed that around 600 people have lost their lives in North East to date due to inter-state border clashes.

“Till today, around 600 people have been killed in border clashes in NE states. This is not a good sign, it is very saddening. There should not be any violence in border areas,” Rijiju, who is on a three-day ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’ in the frontier state, told reporters at the state BJP headquarters here, on being asked about the Arunachal-Assam boundary issue.

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Rijiju, who is also the Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal West constituency, while pointing out that the decades old boundary matter between Arunachal and Assam was pending in the Supreme Court, said the Government of India wants that the NE states maintain status quo.

“We are no enemy; we are all citizens of the same country… Why should we treat each other like an enemy for territorial matters? Whether it (boundary row) is between Arunachal and Assam, Assam-Mizoram or Assam-Nagaland, we all should maintain peace and harmony with the spirit of brotherhood,” the Union minister said.

For this (boundary issue) there is a mechanism, everyone has to follow this mechanism, he emphatically said.

Referring to recent violent border clashes between Assam and Mizoram, he said, “Everyone should act in a balanced way and nobody should give any provocative statement.”

“United NE is for united India. If we fight among ourselves, we would be scattered. ‘United we stand, divided we fall’ — this formula has to be implemented every day,” Rijiju said.

It may be mentioned here that Chief Minister Pema Khandu in his 75th Independence Day address, had reiterated that all border disputes with neighbouring Assam would be settled out-of-court and the state government would make claims and carry out all the exercises taking into consideration the Apex Court appointed ‘Local Commission’ report.

In this regard, the Arunachal Pradesh government had constituted a High Power Ministerial Committee (HPMC) headed by state Home Minister Bamang Felix. The committee so far has held two meetings with different stakeholders. The next meeting is scheduled to be held on August 20 with all the stakeholders of the districts sharing boundaries with Assam.

Guv for strengthening judiciary

Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig (retd) BD Mishra on Thursday urged Rijiju to have a full-fledged High Court for strengthening the judiciary system in the state, when the latter called on him here.

During the interaction at the Raj Bhavan, he also requested to augment the infrastructure and the manpower for the courts in the state, a Raj Bhavan communique said here.

Mishra also urged the minister to expedite essential development projects of Arunachal Pardesh to increase the pace of development in the state, it said.

Earlier, the governor congratulated Rijiju for being the first person from Arunachal Pradesh to be included as Cabinet Minister in the Union Government.

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