GUWAHATI: A tribal students’ union in Assam enforcing a blockade against neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh agreed to suspend its agitation Thursday after giving the state govt 48 hours to arrest four suspects in Monday’s firing targeting a border village of Dhemaji district.The decision by Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK) followed talks with cabinet minister Ranoj Pegu, designated by CM Himanta Biswa Sarma to firefight the fresh interstate border dispute, and his colleague Atul Bora, who holds the border protection and development portfolio.“Assam Police has requested its Arunachal Pradesh counterpart to hand over the accused from Himey village,” Pegu wrote on X, adding that the BJP govt had taken up the matter with Arunachal Pradesh “at the highest level” and was committed to justice for the affected villagers.At least 18 villagers were wounded in the firing at Bodoti village under Mingmang panchayat, reigniting an old border dispute.The FIR, based on a complaint by the Mising students’ group, names Nirak Ngomle, Taji Nika, Koter Nake and Kamli Nake as the alleged assailants.The union demanded a time-bound investigation and said people carrying firearms should not be permitted to be part of any future dialogue on land disputes along the border.The blockade was lifted within hours of a fresh confrontation between two groups at Likabali entry point on the Dhemaji-Siang border. A police team from Arunachal Pradesh fired in the air to disperse them, sources said.In Delhi, MPs from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh issued a joint video appeal for calm. “We must live together harmoniously as brothers and sisters and settle any land dispute through peaceful negotiation only,” Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said, flanked by MPs from Assam.Rijiju said the two states shared a bond built over generations. “Perhaps our borders are separate, but our hearts are one,” he said.
