2 civilians dead, over 20 police officials injured after Assam eviction drive turns violent

Guwahati: An eviction drive to evict encroachment on tribal belt and blocks of Sonapur in Kamrup district turned violent as a mob attacked the police team assisting the administration resulting in two deaths and injuries to nearly 22 police personnel.

The conflict broke out when Bengali-speaking Muslim villagers, who were previously evicted, returned to occupy the evicted land one again.

Blaming the Congress party for instigating the encroachers Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters, “The eviction drive was going on peacefully. When the Congress started opposing the eviction drive in the morning, the situation became worse and a large number of people with lathis, bamboo sticks attacked the police and government officials.”

He said that most of these encroachers are not landless but residents of nearby villages and it was a planned encroachment of tribal belt and block. Condemning the attack on the police team, he said, “These encroachers shouted the same slogans that we saw recently during the unrest in Bangladesh.”

Asserting that his government has decided to evict encroachment from tribal blocked and belt across the state, Mr Sarma said that police had no option but to open fire to stop the mob from committing violence. “They even stopped movement of trains,” he said, adding that the mob was armed with various weapons. Police have arrested at least five people. The deceased have been identified as Jubahir Ali and Haider Ali.

Assam DGP GP Singh told reporters that the incident took place when a team from the Sonapur circle office and the police went to Kochutoli village in the district to evict Bengali-speaking Muslim villagers who had previously been removed from the encroached land but had again returned.

Informing that a police vehicle was also damaged in the incident he said that the villagers, including women, attacked the officials and policemen with sharp weapons, sticks and stones, resulting in injuries to a magistrate and over 20 police personnel.

The local tribal organisations have condemned the incident and threatened to launch agitation if encroachers resort to similar attacks on administration again.