In Assam’s Karbi Anglong district, several organizations had started an indefinite economic blockade of Nagaland from Tuesday citing alleged illegal encroachments by the neighbouring state.

The organizations led by Karbi Students Association (KSA), blocked NH 39. Several trucks carrying goods and other commercial vehicles have been stranded because of the blockade. It has been alleged by the organizations in Assam that Nagaland authorities have issued land certificates to people in areas falling in the Daldali forest reserve under Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) region in Assam. They also allege that border pillars demarcating the 512 km-long boundary between the two states have been removed by people from Nagaland in order to encroach on Assam territory.

KSA president Bijoy Bey had said,“Encroachment of Assam territory has been going on for many years, but the state government has failed to stop it. Hence, we have decided to impose the indefinite economic blockade against it.”

District police officials said that though the protesters have blocked the movement of commercial vehicles, private vehicles have been allowed to ply without restrictions. No violence has been reported from the protest sites. This indefinite economic blockade of Nagaland on NH-39 had been suspended for Wednesday after authorities from both sides met to discuss the issue on Tuesday and further talks were proposed for Wednesday.

The present border row between the two states comes on the heels of a month-long dispute between Assam, Nagaland, and Mizoram which had resulted in two road blockades. The situation along the Assam-Mizoram boundary is now slowly returning to normal following an intervention of the union home ministry.

Nagaland and Assam share a 512 km long boundary and a dispute has been going on there for over five decades. Some of the arguments of the disputes date back to provisions of 1826 when the British annexed  Assam. Nagaland has been claiming some portions of Assam as theirs while the latter has accused it of encroaching thousands of hectares of its land. Both states have refused to accept recommendations of two commissions set up by the centre to solve the issue and a suit is pending in Supreme Court on the issue since 1988.  One of the committees was set up in 1971 under the chairmanship of the then Law commission chairman KVK Sundaram. There have been several violent clashes on the issue. Over 100 people have been killed, most of them on the Assam side, in alleged attacks by armed men from Nagaland in separate incidents in 1979, 1985, and 2014.

 The author is a student member of Amity center of Happiness