Demand by Karbis to evict people not possible due to court stay: Himanta

Sarma said that many times, people ask him to evict encroachers instantly, but he always tells them that no government can work by disregarding the law and the court.”Even if we say we will evict, the police cannot do it because contempt of court will be applicable to them. I cannot say why these things are not understood. We will certainly talk face-to-face, and if they have misunderstood anything, we will address those issues.”Usually, if there is a court order, people do not force things. We will have to look into the incidents of the last two days,” Sarma said.He, however, asserted that the first priority is normalisation and let the situation become peaceful, and the government will examine the matter thereafter.”Peaceful protests are different, but nobody can solve any problem through violence,” Sarma said, appealing to all to shun violence.He said that the situation is very normal since morning with the presence of the state DGP and Additional Chief Secretary in the affected district.”The situation has improved today and I believe the situation will further improve by tonight. The Army is also there for the flag march,” Sarma said.He said that both the warring groups are talking to each other and people have come out to shops and streets.”I think we should see a much better situation in the days to come,” the CM opined.Asked if outside forces played a role in the violence, he said, “As the election is nearing, we had anticipated a few sporadic incidents. We have to move ahead carefully in December and January. I don’t want to comment on the involvement of third or fourth element in the development.”The Assam Assembly elections to 126 constituencies are likely to take place in March-April of next year.Agitators from the Karbi community had been on a hunger strike for the last 15 days, demanding the eviction of alleged illegal settlers, who mostly hail from Bihar, from the VGR and PGR lands in the two districts – Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong.They went on a rampage on Monday after police took away three agitators from the protest site during the wee hours, a move which the administration later claimed was for their hospitalisation.The badly affected Kheroni area witnessed massive violence on Tuesday, as one person was killed in police firing and another was burnt alive inside his house, while more than 70 others, including over 60 police personnel, were injured.Assam Police DGP Harmeet Singh was hit on the shoulder with a stone, while IG (Law and Order) Akhilesh Kumar Singh suffered injuries on his leg.”Yesterday, one Karbi youth was killed in police firing. A section of the Karbi people set afire shops and a person with disability, who could not walk, died in the fire. The youth was burnt alive and it was very pathetic situation,” Sarma said here.



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