Protests in Karbi Anglong (Pic: AP)
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the issue of separate states. The demand for creation of new states in Assam has intensified following the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh and create Telangana.
It has triggered protests by four ethnic groups in Assam. These groups - the Bodos, Karbi, Dimasas and Koch-Rajbongshis - have for long been demanding that separate states be carved out of Assam.
Violence continued to rock Karbi Anglong district today where various government offices were torched and train tracks removed by activists of different organisations demanding a separate state on the lines of Telangana.
The activists set ablaze veterinary, irrigation, agriculture, health, Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) and Public Works Department (PWD) offices across the district last night, officials said.
The protestors removed a portion of the railway track between Diphu and Doldoli stations today, halting train movement.
The indefinite curfew in West Karbi Anglong police district continued, while prohibitory order in the district headquarters town of Diphu was relaxed for three hours from 8 AM in the morning, the officials said.
Flag marches by the Army, that was called in by the civil administration, was continuing across the violence-hit district for area domination and to instill confidence among the people.
Meanwhile, the United Peoples Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), which had signed a tripartite Memorandum of Settlement for peace with the Centre and Assam government in Delhi on
November 5, 2011, tore the MoS in Diphu claiming it no longer honoured the peace accord.