TEZPUR, Feb 23 � Tension has once again raised its ugly head at Chawldhowa in the Behali Reserved Forest near the Assam-Arunachal border in Sonitpur district following indiscriminate firing upon Assamese people by personnel of the India Reserve Battalion (IR Bn) on Sunday.
Sources said officials from Sonitpur district administration accompanied by forest officials had engaged a group of labourers to start the primary work for establishment of one of the six proposed border outposts in the area, when personnel of the Arunachal Police fired upon the labourers, forcing them as also the officials, to flee from the spot. The incident happened at 11 am. This was the fourth attack on Assamese people by the Arunachal Police.
The Behali Reserved Forest in Sonitpur district on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, is home to innumerable species of birds. It is part of the Sonitpur Elephant Reserve, that was notified in 2003.
But its very existence has been threatened for the last several years, especially because of aggression by Arunachalis. On January 29, 2014, 15 Assamese villagers guarding their land in the border area were brutally killed by the IR Bn.
