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Police, NSCN militants exchange fire

By Sushanta Talukdar

GUWAHATI, JULY 1. Tension gripped the Karbi Anglong Hill District of Assam following a heavy exchange of fire between militants of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) and the State police during an eviction drive in the Dhansiri reserve forest today.

The Director-General of Police, P.V. Sumant, told The Hindu that there were reports of firing in Mangolamukh area of the district bordering Nagaland when eviction was being carried out in the forest area against "illegal encroachers." "The area is close to a designated camp of the NSCN (IM) and we suspect that that the eviction party was fired upon by the militants," he said. Officials said the firing, which started at around 2.50 p.m., was still on. Reports reaching here said that a 500-member police and CRPF team reached the inter-State border after the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council issued a directive to the district administration to evict about 50 Naga families who had allegedly encroached on the 2500-hectare-plot for setting up a model Naga village close to the Hebron-designated camp of NSCN (IM). Mr. Sumant said the "encroachers" were asked to vacate as the documents in their possession claiming ownership of the land were forged. A Dimasa organisation, Dimasa Khunung Hasung, had also demanded the eviction of the "encroachers."

Karbi Anglong shares a 40-km border with Nagaland and the NSCN (IM) has been claiming certain areas of this hill district as part of its "greater Nagalim" comprising the Naga-inhabited areas. The Assam Government moved the Supreme Court in 1988 over alleged encroachment of its land by Nagaland . The Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio, favoured an out-of-court settlement of the dispute, while the Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, has been insisting on a court verdict.

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