Assam removes travel restrictions for Meghalaya after Mukroh violence

Following unrest at the Mukroh village on the Assam-Meghalaya border on Tuesday that left six people dead, Assam on Sunday lifted travel restrictions to Meghalaya, according to news agency ANI.

Speaking to ANI, DCP Sudhakar Singh from the Guwahati City Police said on Sunday that the police removed barricades in the Jorabat area along the Assam-Meghalaya border and allowed all vehicles to enter Meghalaya.

Travel restrictions were removed two days after Assam Police permitted trucks carrying commodities into Meghalaya for the first time since tensions between the two states flared up. However, only automobiles registered in Meghalaya were permitted admission.

Vehicles bearing Assam licence plates had been warned not to enter Meghalaya by the police in the past because they might be targeted.

Violence broke out on Tuesday between locals and an Assamese contingent made up of police and forest guards, leaving six people dead and a number of others hurt. After the contingent stopped a truck carrying timber that had been unlawfully cut, a fight broke out.

Five of the six victims were from Meghalaya, and one was a forest guard from Assam.

Assam’s chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, made it clear two days after the incident that there was no border dispute at the centre of the altercation. “Just to be clear, contrary to how it is depicted in the national media, the incident had nothing to do with the border. In essence, it was a dispute between the police and the villagers over specific forest timbers”, according to ANI, Sarma stated on Thursday.